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Keuon Franklin Peddicord 
1863 



FRONTISPIECE 



KELION FRANKLIN PEDDICORD 

of Quirk's Scouts 
Morgan's Kentucky Cavalry, C. S. A. 



Biographical and Autobiographical 

-f 

, ^ Together with a 
General Biographical Outline of the 
Peddicord Family 



By MRS. INDIA W. P. LOGAN 




New York and Washington 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1908 



P: 



UBRARY of congress! 
1 
I wo Codes tiectiiY».' 

JUN 13 iyo8 
CLASS ex. .ac. Miy, 



Copyright, 1908, by 
Mrs. India W. P. Logan 



Part I 

Page 

General Biographical Outline of the ' 
Peddlcord Family, 9 

Part II 

Biographical Sketch and Autobiography 
of Kellon Franklin Peddlcord as 
Written In His "Journal" and In Let- 
ters from Military Prisons, and as 
Jotted Down by Him During a Busy 
Life After the War, 19 

Chapter 

I Youth and Early Manhood, 21 

II The Journal, 29 

III Prison Life, 149 

IV After the War, 161 

V Some Letters Received by Mrs. 

Logan, 164 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
Kelion Franklin Peddicord, 1863, .... 

Frontispiece 

Columbus A. Peddicord, 12 

Carolus J. Peddicord, 18 

Kelion Franklin Peddicord, 1888, .... 50 , 



PART I 

General Biograpical Outline of the 
Peddicord Family 



PARTI 

General Biographical Outline of the 
Peddicord Family 

Our great-grandfather was Adam Peddi- 
cord. He married Elizabeth Barnes, a 
daughter of James Barnes, the elder. Their 
son, Jasper Peddicord, our paternal grand- 
father, was born in 1762 in Anne Arundel 
County, Maryland, from whence he moved to 
Ohio in 1829. He died in Barnesville, Bel- 
mont County, Ohio, on September 23, 1844, 
aged 82. Barnesville was named after James 
Barnes, grandfather's cousin. Caleb Peddi- 
cord, another cousin of Grandfather Peddi- 
cord, emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky 
In 1830. Two other cousins of our grand- 
father, William and John Peddicord, served 
in the war of 1812. 

Amelia Hobbs-Peddicord, our paternal 
grandmother, was the daughter of Thomas 
Hobbs. She was born in Maryland in 1767 
and died March 23, 1841, in Barnesville, 
Ohio. 

Jared Hobbs, our maternal grandfather, 



lo Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

was born in Howard County, Maryland, 
March 22, 1772, and died on his farm in 
1866 at the advanced age of 94. 

Our maternal grandmother was Elenor 
Shipley-Hobbs, daughter of Edward Shipley. 
She was born in Howard County, Maryland, 
March 16, 1777, and died August 21, 1828. 

Wilson Lee Peddicord, our father, was 
born in Howard County, Maryland, May 13, 
1803, and died in Palmyra, Missouri, May 
20, 1875, from injuries caused by his team 
running away and throwing him under a 
large iron field roller. He was a Royal Arch 
Mason, and Palmyra Lodge officiated at his 
funeral. 

Our mother, Keturah Barnes-Peddicord, 
the fifth child of Grandfather Hobbs, was 
bom in Howard County, Maryland, Septem- 
ber 25, 1807, and died January 9, 1876. 
She is buried near father in Palmyra, Mis- 
souri, where she died. 

Jared Hobbs and Elenor Shipley-Hobbs 
had six children : 

1. Louisa, born October 16, 1801. 

2. Robert T., born December 2, 1802. 

3. Juha Ann, born April 3, 1804. 

4. Corilla E., born March 2, 1806. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord ii 

5. Keturah B., bom September 25, 1807. 

6. Teresa, born June 19, 1809. 

Jasper Peddicord and Amelia Hobbs- 
Peddicord had twelve children; two of 
whom died quite young : 

Sons. Daughters. 

1. Thomas. i. Pleasants. 

2. Asbury. 2. Rebecca. 

3. Benjamin. 3. Anna. 

4. Joseph. 4. Cordelia. 

5. Wilson Lee. 5. Hannah (Dorsey). 

Anna married John Holton. 

Cordelia married Thomas Holton. 

Pleasants married Jerry Bartholow. 

Rebecca married Robert Musgrove. 

Hannah (daughter by a second marriage 
to Miss Dorsey) never married. 

Wilson Lee Peddicord and Keturah 
Bames-Peddicord were married on Novem- 
ber 17, 1829, in Howard County, Maryland, 
by the Rev. T. Linthicum. They had seven 
children : 

1. Columbus Adolphus, born July 18, 
1831. 

2. Kelion Franklin, born October i, 1833. 



12 Kelion Franklin Peddicoi-d 

3. Indiana Washington, born December 
i5» 1835. 

4. Ruth Elenor, born November 7, 1837. 

5. Carolus Judkins, born November 27, 
1840. 

6. Laura Clay, born November 22, 1844. 

7. Lily Louisa Pleasants, born August 28, 
1849. 

Columbus A. Peddicord and Mrs. Issa 
Mcador-Peddicord were married March 31, 
1859, in Sumner County, Tennessee, by Rev. 
John Winn. They had three children : 

1. Charles Lewis, born February, i860. 

2. Frank Morgan, born November, 1861. 

3. Columbus, born 1863. 

The following biographical sketch of 
Columbus A. Peddicord is by his sister, Mrs. 
India P. Logan: 

Columbus A. Peddicord was the oldest 
child in our family. Six feet tall at eighteen 
years of age, the idol of our family, he was 
a model of manly beauty, an image of our 
stately, beautiful mother. His chestnut, 
curling hair, and his hazel eyes, clear pale 
complexion, perfect form, and friendship 
with all classes made him a universal fa- 
vorite. Impetuous tempered, he forgave any 




COLLMBUS A. I'KUOICORD 
Capl. Independent Scouts, Morgan's Cavalry 



FACING 12 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord ij 

who affronted him at the first overture. He 
was a splendid shot at an early age, afraid of 
nothing in the world. 

After the first year of service in the "Sil- 
ver Grays," a company of Gallatin, Tennes- 
see, in Colonel Bates's regiment, Second 
Infantry, Company K., he was with J. H. 
Morgan, and was often sent on detached 
service. He was taken prisoner in 1863, and 
spent nineteen months starving and freezing 
at Johnson's Island. Exchanged in Novem- 
ber, 1864, he returned to find his wife in a 
Federal prison at Gallatin, Tennessee — a 
ruse to catch him. His father succeeded In 
getting her freed by going to Nashville to 
General Rosecrans, who banished her from 
Tennessee, where she owned one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, which was sold for taxes 
during reconstmction days. My brother Col- 
umbus was furious at his wife's treatment, 
and he and his men were conspicuous for 
their daring until the close of the war. 

He was farming near Glasgow Junction in 
Kentucky until August, 1867, when he at- 
tended a Democratic barbecue at Glasgow 
City. While riding In his carriage driven by 
the old faithful slave driver, he was ap- 
proached by four men, and asked if he would 



14 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

take them to the grounds. He acquiesced. 
Three rode with him, and one with the 
driver. "You are Captain Peddicord," said 
one. He smiled, saying, "The Captain is 
played out." The man, using vile epithets, 
said, "A fine carriage for a d — d rebel to 
ride in." Brother, thinking they were joking, 
replied, "Yes, but the rebel is played out, 
too." After he found out they were antag- 
onistic, he stepped out and said, "Get out of 
my vehicle." The one who got out first went 
behind the carriage and shot at my brother, 
hitting him in the left arm, shattering the 
bone. My brother then pulled out his pis- 
tol, but, as he said afterward, it failed to go 
off for the first time. The man shot again 
and struck his spine. He fell, and the men 
ran, and as there were many old Confeder- 
ates on the grounds the crew disappeared 
quickly. My brother lived thirteen days. 
He is buried in the old "Bell" family ceme- 
tery at Glasgow Junction, Kentucky. His 
wife and two sons — one seven, one five and a 
half years old — were left to mourn his loss. 

Kelion Franklin Peddicord never married. 
The following appreciation of his charac- 
ter is by his sister, Mrs. India W. P. Logan : 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 15 

In person my brother Kelion was about 
five feet eight inches in height, pale olive in 
complexion, with dark gray eyes and fine, 
very dark brown hair, and erect form, even 
when his hair had become white with age. 
Though always cheerful, his countenance was 
grave and he seldom laughed. He looked 
the soldier to the last time he walked the 
street, and died like the "bravest of the 
brave." With his soft hat under his arm, 
his Kentucky Confederate badge on his 
breast (from the reunion in Louisville in 
1905), he was laid beside his father and 
mother for whom he had given up his am- 
bition of rising in his profession of civil en- 
gineer, becoming the cheerful farmer until 
the death of his parents, when he came to 
Palmyra, where he filled many positions of 
trust. He was a member of Robert Buffner 
C. V. Camp at Hannibal. Kelion was one 
of the most truthful persons I was ever ac- 
quainted with. This was a trait he inherited. 
"If you cannot speak the truth," he said, "say 
nothing." He was always chivalrous toward 
women and loved children to a great degree, 
and was an uncommon judge of men. 

Always uncomplaining, he said only once 



1 6 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

when ill, looking at the clock, "It is so long." 
He was ill eighteen days. 

Kelion, as he was always called until his 
army life, was only two years older than my- 
self, and I corresponded with him when pos- 
sible until the last sixteen years of his life, 
during which he lived in my home. I wish 
to say here that I can never forget the kind- 
ness of those who ministered to him in his 
last illness. He was the last link that bound 
me to the past. 

Indiana W. Peddicord-Logan and Samuel 
Logan were married in St. Marys, Pleasant 
County, Virginia, May 15, 1855. They had 
three children: 

1. Eugene W., born June 27, 1856; died 
August 18, 1857. 

2. Minnehaha, born May 21, 1858. 

3. Ernest Lee, born April 26, 1862; died 
August 8, 1893. 

Samuel Logan died of apoplexy in Parkers- 
burg, West Virginia, April 14, 1896. He 
was buried in Palmyra, Missouri, April 17, 
1896. 

Ruth Elenor Peddicord-Byrd and WUliam 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 17 

Hamilton Byrd were married April 27, 
188 1, by Rev. Dr. I. A. Wainwright at the 
National Hotel, in Palmyra, Missouri. 

William Hamilton Byrd died January 12, 
1905. He was a descendant of Sir William 
Byrd of "Westover," Virginia. 

Of Carolus J. Peddicord, his sister, Mrs. 
India P. Logan, writes: 

Our youngest brother, Carolus J. Peddi- 
cord, was only twenty-two years old when 
taken prisoner by General Paine's soldiers at 
Gallatin, Tennessee. He was during the 
first year of the war a member of Col. Ben 
Hardin Helm's First Kentucky Cavalry, 
Company A, and afterward belonged to the 
same scouts with my brother, C. A. Peddi- 
cord. With five of his men Carolus was put 
in a dungeon at Gallatin, on a stone floor, 
without a blanket, until a comrade left his on 
being paroled by General Paine. He was told 
if he would inform on his friends and the 
Southern sympathizers that his life would be 
spared. He obstinately refused from Octo- 
ber until December, when he was informed 
that he would be taken out on horseback to 



i8 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

the country and be shot If he refused to 
guide them to the homes of his friends. One 
friend who spent the last night In the cell 
with him said to my brother, K. F, Peddi- 
cord, at a reunion in Dallas, Texas, "Your 
brother was the bravest man I ever saw. He 
said, T can die, but never can I betray a 
ti-ust.' " He was taken many miles out into 
the country and shot In the forehead. 

Carolus had auburn hair, extremely fair 
complexion, was pale, slender, about five feet 
eight inches tall, with a graceful figure, and 
dark blue laughing eyes like our father's. 
He Is burled at the old Bell family cemetery 
in Kentucky. 

Laura Clay Peddicord was born in Barnes- 
vlUe, Belmont County, Ohio, and died at 
Fountain Head, Sumner County, Tennessee, 
May 1 8, 1867, having been an invalid her 
whole life. She Is burled at Fountain Head 
Church, Sumner County, Tennessee. 

Lily L. Peddicord-Webster and Thomas 
T. Webster were married December 21, 
1887, In Kansas City, Missouri. They have 
one child, Frank Thursby, born December 
I, 1888. 




Carolus J. Peddicord 

Member 1st Kentucky Cavalry 



FACING 1 8 



PART II 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 

KELION FRANKLIN PEDDICORD 

AS WRITTEN IN HIS "JOURNAL" 

AND IN LETTERS FROM MILITARY 

PRISONS, AND AS JOTTED DOWN 

BY HIM DURING A BUSY LIFE 

AFTER THE WAR 



CHAPTER I 

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD 

Kelion Franklin Peddicord was the sec- 
ond son of Wilson Lee Peddicord and Ke- 
turah Barnes-Peddicord. He was born Oc- 
tober I, 1833, on a farm near Bamesville, 
Belmont County, Ohio, the home of his 
Grandfather Peddicord, where his parents 
lived when they moved from Maryland in 
1830. The family moved to Barnesville, 
while he was yet unable to walk, to the hotel 
called the Mansion House, later styled the 
Mills House. 

His father was in charge of the Mansion 
House, and owned at the time four or five 
large six-horse teams and wagons, which he 
kept for hauling to and from the Baltimore, 
Maryland, market, over the National Turn- 
pike. He was an experienced tobacconist, 
buying, packing, and sending hundreds of 
hogsheads of tobacco to the Baltimore mar- 
ket. They hauled tobacco east, and brought 
dry goods and merchandise of every descrip- 
tion west in return. 



22 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

Young Peddicord's education was begun 
at the old brick "free" schoolhouse, then the 
high school of the town. The first school- 
master was an old-timer by the name of Ash- 
ford. Another was Joseph Harris. When 
the large academy was built he attended it, 
while under the charge of that excellent pro- 
fessor, Nathaniel R. Smith, of Smith's Gram- 
mar fame. From Professor Smith Kelion re- 
ceived his first lessons in surveying, having 
field practice, geology, and geometry. He 
was often a companion of the Professor in 
his researches, and thus acquired a great 
fondness for all that was curious in nature. 
This knowledge in after years aided him 
much in his profession of civil engineering in 
the classification of materials. 

He was a good assistant in the tobacco 
house under his father, and had become an 
expert assorter and packer when but twelve 
years old. 

In 1846 his father moved with his family 
from the town of Barnesville to a farm on 
the Ohio River, in Washington County, 
Ohio, at the foot of what old river men 
called Long Reach, from its straight course 
of eighteen miles. While living here the boy 



Kelion Franklin Peddicoixl 23 

saw pass many Mexican war soldiers en route 
to their homes from Mexico. 

In the spring of 1850 the family moved to 
the Virginia side of the river on a farm five 
miles above St. Marys, the county-seat of 
Pleasants County, Virginia. With his eldest 
sister he attended the seminary school con- 
ducted by Mrs. T. E. Curry, at the town of 
Grandview, Ohio, during the winter of 1850 
and 1 85 I. 

In December, 1850, the family moved 
again, this time to St. Marys, Virginia. They 
resided there until December 15, 1856, dur- 
ing which time his father was a railroad con- 
tractor on the Northwestern Virginia Rail- 
road, then under construction, grading sev- 
eral miles of heavy work. 

The young man attended school a short 
term in St. Marys, then went to his father's 
works to act as timekeeper and bookkeeper 
for the force at work. 

Before he was twenty-one he received the 
appointment of second assistant in a corps of 
civil engineers, from Chief Engineer Benja- 
min H. Latrobe, of Baltimore, Maryland, 
with directions to report for duty to Cornelius 
Mercer, resident engineer in charge of the 
First Residency, Second Division of the N. 



24 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

W. V. R. R. He remained on the First Res- 
idency until near the completion, acting as 
first assistant from the first day of joining 
the corps. This was owing to the fact that 
the first assistant was unable to take charge 
of the instruments and keep notes. Thus the 
second assistant fell heir to the care of the 
transit and level and other field instruments, 
and the note-book. 

It was a great day to him, when on the sec- 
ond day in the service he was sent to give the 
contractors, McCune & Gillespie, grade in 
the heavy summit cut, keeping notes and run- 
ning the level for nearly a mile from the 
bench mark. This summit was the highest 
on the road, and the divide between Middle 
Island and the Monongahela River. Water 
which fell on the east side would have to 
travel nearly seven hundred miles before 
joining in the Ohio that which fell, a few feet 
away, on the west side. 

At one time the resident engineer, Mr. 
Mercer, was permitted a short leave of ab- 
sence, and the junior was left in charge of a 
tunnel, near completion, where the skill of 
the engineer is tested — that of bringing op- 
posite lines together with slight variation. 
This he did satisfactorily. He was pro- 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 25 

moted and transferred to the Second Resi- 
dency, Second Division, as first assistant to 
John Maxwell, resident engineer, and J. C. 
C. Hoskins, division engineer, assisting in 
field work in order to make complete his final 
estimates. Most of the time during his stay 
at the Second Residency he was on office 
work. 

Young Peddicord was next ordered to re- 
port at the office of the Fifth Residency, Sec- 
ond Division, in company with A. C. Hos- 
kins, and remained at the fifth completing 
the unfinished office work. 

Having finished the final estimates and re- 
ports he left Schumla, Virginia, on February 
7, 1856, for St. Marys, Virginia, where some 
time was spent in assisting the firm of Logan, 
Kellar & Co., one of whom was his brother- 
in-law, in their store, and in making collec- 
tions of parties in the interior counties. 

On December 15, 1856, the family 
moved to Tennessee, where his father had a 
number of miles of heavy work on the Louis- 
ville and Nashville Railroad, under Mr. 
George McLeod, chief engineer, near Foun- 
tain Head, in Sumner County. His sister, 
Mrs. Logan, accompanied the family. 
On March 12, 1857, with Samuel Logan, 



26 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

who was going after his wife and child, 
young Peddicord left St. Marys for Tennes- 
see. They took the steamer Stephen Bayard 
for Parkersburg, Virginia, thence by steamer 
Silver Star to Galliopolis, Ohio, then by 
steamer J. B. Ford to Cincinnati, Ohio, then 
on steamer Gazelle to Louisville, Kentucky, 
and the South America to Smithland at the 
mouth of the Cumberland River. From 
there they traveled on the V. K. Stephenson 
to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee. Here 
they visited Mrs. James K. Polk's residence, 
the Capitol Building, then not completed, 
and other places of interest. From Nash- 
ville they proceeded by stage coach to Galla- 
tin, Sumner County, Tennessee, north of 
which the family resided on the works. 

Soon after reaching home he was taken 
sick with measles, caught from a passenger 
in the stage coach. 

Having letters from Chief Engineer La- 
trobe to Chief Engineer McLeod, he received 
an appointment from the latter and was or- 
dered to Nashville, Tennessee, on June 1 1 , 

1857, where he was stationed up to April 23, 

1858, as inspector of cross-ties, superintend- 
ent of bridge masonry and superstructure, 
and receiving chairs and spikes and railroad 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 27 

iron. While in Nashville, as a boyish ex- 
ploit, he climbed the spire of the State Capi- 
tol and hung his hat on the point. 

Returning to Fountain Head in April, 
1858, he spent a short time attending to his 
father's business, then joined him near Glas- 
gow Junction, Barren County, Kentucky, and 
aided in the completion of his father's last 
contract on the Louisville and Nashville Rail- 
road in the spring of 1859. 

While residing near Glasgow Junction in 
1859 and i860 he discovered and explored a 
number of caverns, the largest of which was 
the Hundred Dome Cave, two and a half 
miles from the station. In connection with 
and aided by John D. Courts, he fitted up and 
opened it to the sightseeing public, having 
carriages to meet the trains for the accom- 
modation of visitors. 

Although born and educated in Ohio, a 
Northern State, young Peddicord believed 
truly and sincerely in the rights of States, and 
when war became imminent his sympathy was 
all with the South, and he enlisted in the 
Confederate States Army in September, 
1 861. Before enlisting he was engaged in 
the service as special agent in re-shipping 
supplies and all kinds of munitions, etc., 



28 Keliou Franklin Peddicoi'd 

from Glasgow Junction, L. & N. R. R., to 
the State line of Tennessee. Permits would 
not be granted at Louisville, Kentucky, to 
ship through, but by re-shipping freight and 
paying charges with gold its southern destin- 
ation was reached. 

While thus engaged the young man met 
General, then Colonel, N. B. Forrest, who 
tendered him a fine position, urging Kelion 
to go with him in the service. The Colonel 
was on his way through Kentucky, taking 
out his first company at the time. With 
some reluctance he was forced to decline the 
Colonel's kind offer, because of his engage- 
ment with the shipping and commission mer- 
chants of Nashville, whose gold was en- 
trusted to him for a specific purpose. 

For a record of young Peddicord's service 
after enlistment in the Confederate States 
Army we can do no better than use his Jour- 
nal, as completed by him in December, 1865. 



CHAPTER II 

THE JOURNAL 

To 

My beloved sister, Mrs. India W. P. Logan, 

This little History 

Is Dedicated and Inscribed by Her 

Very grateful and affectionate brother, 

Frank. 

Preface 

This Journal of incidents and adventures, 
written at your request, was never intended 
to pass beyond the circle of tried and par- 
ticular friends. The particular situation in 
which it was written, the character of the 
writer, of his associates, and the Cause they 
represented — all these peculiarities must be 
known, felt, and understood before you can 
enter into the spirit of the enclosed composi- 
tion. 

With this consideration, these simple 
sketches are kindly submitted, and placed 
under your protection, sincerely hoping they 
will be appreciated and estimated according 
to their merits. And furthermore, that the 
honor of the Cause, as well as of its defend- 



30 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

ers, be kept sacred, and to the end of time 
unsullied. 

The Author. 

Glasgow Junction, Kentucky. 
Dear Sister: 

I received, some time since, a request that 
I would write you an outline of my expe- 
rience in "the tented field" up to the date of 
my capture. It will necessarily be very im- 
perfect, and a very brief one, and perhaps it 
will be as uninteresting as it is brief. Yet I 
can assure you that nothing less than a long 
and continued interview could give you any 
just conception or description of my expe- 
rience and many exploits as a member of 
Morgan's Cavali*y. 

However, I trust this sketch may both 
please and interest you. To me, in the mean 
time, it will only be a reminder of the long 
years of hardship, exposure, and suffering in 
a Lost Cause which was so gallantly and de- 
votedly battled for that one would almost 
accuse the God of Battles of injustice and im- 
partiality; of using the Fates against a 
people in such a sacred cause. That I have 
been a soldier in the service of the Confed- 



Kelioii Franklin Peddicord 31 

crate States Is not, and never will be, re- 
gretted. I am proud that I was one who did 
not hesitate to join the standard of those in 
defense of their country's rights. Had I not 
done so I would now be chiding myself with 
no little severity Shame alone would cause 
me to blush myself out of existence. 

But pardon my digression. I will com- 
mence my sketch. 

You are already aware, perhaps, that I en- 
listed in the cavalry service of the Confed- 
erate States of America at Glasgow, Ken- 
tucky, in October, 1861, and in a company 
that was then being formed by Second Lieu- 
tenant James W. Bowles, who had been duly 
authorized by the Confederate Government 
to recruit a company of cavalry. 

At Glasgow forty men were enlisted, and 
after some experience in drilling and a few 
exciting engagements, such as scouting and 
skirmishing, in which we were sometimes sup- 
ported by Capt. John H. Morgan and his 
company, — a favor we often returned, — we 
were ordered by General Buckner to Bowling 
Green, Kentucky. On reporting to the Gen- 
eral we were instructed by him tO' report to 
Captain Morgan, commanding Camp Burn- 



33 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

ham, one mile south of Bowling Green, where 
we went into camp. 

Here we found the Lexington Rifles, Cap- 
tain Morgan's old company; Captain Allen's 
and Capt. John S. Churchill's company, 
partly completed, with which our company 
was, by order of the commandant, soon after- 
ward consolidated. The two captains, by the 
toss of a copper, decided who should become 
the commander, and Lieutenant Bowles, our 
then acting captain, being the successful one. 
Captain Churchill justly fell heir to the 
second in command, the first lieutenancy. 
Our first lieutenant became the second lieu- 
tenant of the new company, and the other 
first lieutenant became our third, the very re- 
sponsible position of orderly sergeant falling 
to your most humble servant, and so on down 
the list. 

At that time Captain Morgan had in camp 
three full companies, amounting to about two 
hundred and seventy-five men, all splendidly 
mounted on Kentucky's best: Morgan's own 
Company A, Capt. Thomas Allen's Company 
B, and Capt. Bowie's Company C, forming 
"Morgan's Squadron," as it was afterward 
known, and being under the command of 
Capt. John H. Morgan, with First Lieutenant 



Kelion Franklin Feddicord 33 

Basil W. Duke, of Company A, as acting ad- 
jutant, subject to the command of General 
Buckner alone. 

After remaining in camp near Bowling' 
Green for some time, drilling and making 
other preparations necessary to meet the foe 
successfully, we moved to an encampment 
called "Camp Allen," five miles south of 
Bowling Green, between the L. and N. and 
the Memphis Branch railroads, where we 
drilled constantly until the latter part of 
November, when we were ordered to the^ 
front to form a portion of the advance-guard, 
then near Green River, under the command 
of General Hindman. Here we remained 
on active duty until the withdrawal of our 
forces from Bowling Green, which with- 
drawal was caused by the enemy's flank move- 
ment and the fall of Fort Donelson, about the 
first of February, 1862. On the retreat the 
squadron was the rear-guard of our army, 
that being the second time we had had charge 
of the post of honor. 

Leaving Camp Green on the 12th, — my 

last sight of home until the 27th of June, 

1865, — we passed through Bowling Green 

and encamped four miles south of town. On 

3 



34 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

the 13th our column reached Frankhn, Ken- 
tucky, and the evening of the 14th we were 
encamped one mile south of Mitchellville, 
Tennessee. Here General Breckinridge, 
who was now in command, General Buckner 
having gone to Fort Donelson, learned that 
the enemy's advance had reached Bowling 
Green. I shall not soon forget the night we 
camped near Mitchellville, for we shared the 
fate of the reindeer in having our beds on the 
snow. 

On the 15th we reached Goodletsville, and 
on the 1 6th we marched into Nashville. We 
remained on special duty in that city several 
days, and until the main army had reached 
Huntsville, Alabama. On the arrival of the 
enemy's forces our little band steadily and 
quite sullenly gave way before them until we 
reached Lavergne, about midway between 
Nashville and Murfreesboro, meanwhile in- 
flicting sudden and unexpected blows, causing 
the enemy so much loss as tO' make him ad- 
vance slowly and with the utmost caution. 

It was on this retreat that our commander 
and the squadron, by their many daring deeds, 
brought themselves first into notice and 
gained such notoriety as to make them after- 
ward of no little terror to the enemv. And 



Kelion Franklin Pcddicoid 35 

from this time forward, until July 19, 1863, 
the date of our capture in Ohio, they earned 
and gained more laurels, captured more 
stores and provisions, and had less reverses 
than any other command in either service. 
Never was a commander so much admired, so'^ 
dev^otedly loved, or one in whom his soldiers 
placed so much confidence as a leader, as was 
our dashing and gallant chief. Any of us — 
all of us — would gladly have died in his de- 
fense, and each one would have envied the 
man who lost his life defending him. So^ 
much was he trusted that his men never 
dreamed of failing him in anything that he 
attempted. In all engagements he was our 
guiding star and hero. 

Doubtless you learned at the time they were 
enacted of the many daring and spirited en- 
gagements and scouts while we were en- 
camped at Lavergne and Murfreesboro, the 
enemy near us, at the Asylum and Nashville. 
I presume you heard particularly of the Gen- 
eral's personal adventures, sometimes alone, 
sometimes with a chosen few. It is exciting 
and interesting to read such incidents, but to 
be an actor in them is the only way to realize 
"the heart's exultant swell." That can only 



36 Kelion Fi'anklin Peddicoid 

be felt; it cannot be described even by those 
who have been through it. 

During our stay in Murfreesboro a portion 
of the squadron went with the General, then 
Captain, to Gallatin, very much to the sur- 
prise of the enemy who were garrisoning the 
town. On this occasion Columbus A. Peddi- 
cord, having just come from Virginia, acted 
as guide. His regiment had been disbanded 
with orders to reorganize on the first of April, 
1862. 

It was here that I contracted the illness 
which afterward resulted in typhoid pneu- 
monia, it being brought on by constant ex- 
posure to the long cold rains during the first 
two weeks of March while we were scouting 
in the vicinity of the capital We lived in the 
saddle the most of the time, and our clothing 
was continually wet. 

Captain Morgan and sixty horse were sta- 
tioned in Murfreesboro, and they held the 
town; the rest of the squadron, meantime, 
encamped on the pike running from Shelby- 
ville, a pike intersecting the Franklin and 
Nashville pike twelve miles from Nashville. 
This disposition of our small force non- 
plussed the enemy entirely and successfully. 
They could not solve the mystery, or imagine 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 37 

what our number was, or where or who we 
were. 

Our leader, by his rapid blows and dare- 
devil encounters, caused them to believe his 
entire force was with him at Murfreesboro, 
while Captain Allen, Captain Bowles, and 
Adjutant Duke drew their attention in the 
opposite direction, attacking them at all 
hours of the day and night. We would cap- 
ture an outpost, very often galloping in the 
midst of their camp, thus causing the greatest 
surprise and consternation imaginable. 
After presenting the compliments of "Mor- 
gan's Men," in the shape of a few broadsides 
from our rifles, a sort of salute of respect and 
esteem, we would doff our caps a la Morgan, 
and, without difficulty, make our exit at a 
brisk canter. Their curiosity was not suffi- 
cient to make them pursue us for an introduc- 
tion, and they did not insist upon an explana- 
tion for such intrusion. 

When orders were received to fall back, 
the squadron, after a short separation, was 
again united at Shelbyville. At Shelbyville I 
was compelled, for the first time, to leave the 
ranks on account of illness. My comrades 
urging me to do so, I went to a private house, 
to remain there until the squadron should 



38 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

move to Huntsville, as previously Instructed. 
One of the boys escorted me to the residence 
of a Mr. Desmukes, south of town a few 
miles, where I was treated "southernly," and 
with great kindness by all the family, and 
especially by the two young lady daughters. 

On the departure of the troops, some time 
afterward, a detachment was sent for me. I 
had become so weak that when I rose to walk 
I staggered, and would have fallen had not 
the arms of the young ladies intercepted and 
rescued me. They then assisted the invalid 
to the gate, and also assisted me to m.ount my 
"war steed," Selim, who was to carry me a 
short distance, to the pike, where an ambu- 
lance was in waiting to take me to Fayettes- 
ville. Escorted by a small guard of troopers 
from our own company, and accompanied by 
C. A. P., who arrived just in time to superin- 
tend my transfer, we proceeded to Fayettes- 
ville. 

From the time I was laid in the ambulance 
until my arrival in the Huntsville hotel I was 
entirely unconscious, and ignorant of all that 
passed, like one dreaming his last long dream. 
I have been told by C. A. P. that I remained 
in Fayettesville several days, and was cared 
for tenderly by the ladies, and especially by 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 39 

the landlady of the pricipal hotel, where I 
stopped. I can't remember. Nor have I 
the remotest idea what occurred during my 
stay; neither have I the least knowledge of 
being carried to the depot in a carriage, thence 
to Huntsville by rail, where, on my arrival, I 
was conveyed tO' the hotel. I was carried in 
by some of the boys, and on ascending the 
stairway they allowed one of my feet to fall 
against the steps, which awoke me from my 
insensibility. But I soon again relapsed into 
unconsciousness, and this time it lasted for 
nearly two months. 

During the two weeks that the squadron 
stayed I was nightly visited by some of the 
boys, but I was not made aware of it until 
a long time afterward. However strange it 
may appear, my best and dearest friends were 
not recognized. I have only a very slight 
recollection of the advent of the Yankees 
under Mitchell, on the i ith day of April, 
1862. The grand entree was made about 1 1 
or 1 2 o'clock at night, and caused no little ex- 
citement among the inhabitants, as well as 
among our men. 

Just before Captain Morgan left Hunts- 
ville for Shiloh, he called to see me. After 
standing some time by my bedside, and look- 



40 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

Ing intently at me, he remarked, "Sergeant, 
you will soon be well enough to be with us 
again." Then he shook my hand very affec- 
tionately, and, bidding me farewell, went into 
the entry, where he said to the landlady, Mrs. 
Georgia Nowell, that I would not live 
through the coming night, in which opinion 
Mrs. Nowell acquiesced, as she told me after- 
ward. And indeed, she said for as much as 
two weeks no one expected that I would re- 
cover, not even the kind doctor attending me. 

But, after all, my time had not arrived. 
By the 22nd of May I was able to sit up in 
bed, propped up by five or six pillows. It was 
on that day, and while in that position, that 
Rube, a true and faithful black boy whom 
C. A. P. had left to take care of me, rushed 
into my room, adjoining Mrs. Nowell's, say- 
ing that the Yankees were searching the hotel. 

Though I was still very feeble, I knew well 
what to do and say. I requested Rube to 
leave the door, as it then was, a little open, 
and to go about just as if he were one of the 
hotel waiters. Having escaped detection so 
often before, and being in one of the rooms 
known as "the family suite," I thought it 
probable that I might escape again. But I 
am now pretty sure that some one had re- 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 41 

ported me to the military, because two 
Yankee officers came direct to my room, 
walked in without knocking, and seated them- 
selves near my bedside. Very soon they in- 
troduced, as cause for their presence and in- 
trusion, several inquiries, such as, "How long 
have you been ill, sir?" or "What command 
do you belong to?" and "When do you think 
you will be able to report to the provost mar- 
shal?" 

I answered their questions by saying that I 
did not know when I would be able to report, 
and they said, "But when do you think?" I 
said, "You see my condition. When do you 
think?" But neither of them could tell me. 

These remarks and similar ones that passed 
made me quite angry, and I said just what I 
thought and pleased. Besides, I did not hke 
the style of their entrance. Each had a pair 
of navy pistols, and each had his sabre drawn, 
as if he expected to see the Devil, instead of 
a sick Rebel. Then, leaving me for a mo^ 
ment, they returned with a parole, which in- 
structed me to report, when I was well 
enough, to the provost marshal, and this I 
signed with a feeble hand. One of these 
officers was a captain of the Third O. V. I. 



43 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

from Belmont County, the other was Sam 
Piper, of Barnesville, his second Heutenant. 

As soon as the Yankees were gone, Mrs. 
Nowell made her appearance, weeping and 
lamenting. Both she and Rube were very- 
much displeased with the new programme. 
When the first of June came I was sufficiently 
strong to venture to the provost marshal's 
office to show myself to Lieutenant Colonel 
Burke of the Tenth Ohio' Volunteer Infantry, 
the provost marshal. My skeleton-like ap- 
pearance gained his sympathy, and all he re- 
quested was for me to report myself daily at 
9 o'clock A. M. This I did until the 5th of 
August. 

Then, on the 5th of August, I was started 
out, under a heavy guard, and with three 
other officers of our army, for some Northern 
bastile. 

All this time Mrs. Nowell was like a kind 
mother to me, and Rube was attentive and 
obedient at all times. I placed him under 
Mrs. Nowell's care when I left. The inhabi- 
tants — for there was only one Union man. 
Judge Lane, in the city — treated me with the 
greatest kindness and attention, offering me 
everything that one could wish for. I was 
the only Confederate prisoner on parole then, 



Kelioii Franlilin Peddicord 43 

all the others having been sent North, and 
during my evening walks crowds of beautiful 
girls and young ladies would accompany me, 
much to the displeasure of the Yankees. And 
I would return from my walks always ladened 
with the richest, rarest flowers that ever grew 
in any clime. 

This was, indeed, a reward that made a 
soldier's heart swell with pride. How it 
gladdens the heart to receive such marked 
attentions from the hands of the beautiful 
and fair ! Long and happily may the fair 
ones of Huntsville live ! 

On my route to Louisville, Kentucky, I 
passed over the Tennessee and Alabama Rail- 
road to Nashville, thence over the Louisville 
and Nashville, and in sight of home. Yet 
not a muscle betrayed itself, nor was there a 
sigh to show that the "Rebel" had any desire 
to see loved ones. However, he felt it 
deeply; but a proud spirit, still unconquered, 
scorned the idea that his guard be permitted 
the gratification of knowing that he suffered. 

On arriving in Louisville I was exhibited 
to a staring populace as one of "Morgan's 
men," and this knowledge caused them to 
show me a rope with a hangman's knot in it. 
This, they said, was for my special benefit. 



44 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

If I had enlisted in this war to be frightened 
by scare-crows I might have been frightened, 
but as I did not, the amusement was entirely 
at their expense. But do not think that all 
the people in the city were of this mind. 
Assuredly not. I saw many bright eyes 
beaming, many fair faces smiling on the old 
gray, and I saw many snowy handkerchiefs 
slyly flirted at the risk of prison walls, and — 
in spite of them ! 

I was now entered, not "professionally," 
however, in that horrid prison, the Old Med- 
ical College, and was confined there about one 
week. I was then transferred, with, perhaps, 
one hundred other prisoners of war (one of 
them Dr. Hobson, afterward our brigade 
chaplain), to Camp Chase, Ohio, by way of 
Indianapolis, when one-half of our party was 
sent to Camp Norton, Dr. Hobson included. 
We remained in Camp Chase nearly two 
weeks, where I wrote you, if you remember; 
then, on the 26th of August we started for 
exchange, by way of Cincinnati to Cairo. At 
Cairo the prisoners embarked on a fleet of 
eight or ten transports that was to carry them 
down the Mississippi River. We were es- 
corted by two ironsides and a heavy guard, 
all of which was quite unnecessary, for we 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 45 

were most anxious to get to Dixie, and for her 
"to live and die." 

Before reaching that place of "world-wide 
fame," Vicksburg, many of the boys died, 
and a large number, myself among them, 
became sick, an illness caused by the crowded 
boat, the inferior rations, and drinking the 
river water. When we reached Vicksburg 
we received a hearty reception from our 
troops and from the inhabitants. It was even 
then a place of interest, for before the war 
it possessed much that was attractive; but 
since it has become notorious for its heroic 
defense, before which Grant's heroic columns 
melted like snow, it is singlarly interesting. 
Well, transportation to Jackson, Mississippi, 
was immediately furnished us, and when we 
arrived there we were ordered by General 
Lloyd Tilghman, commander of the post, 
into a camp of instruction until further or- 
ders. 

I met here my old friend of civil engineer 
notoriety, John W. Hayden, belonging now 
to the Confederate Engineering Corps, with 
the rank of colonel. He and the General 
urged and insisted that I should receive, or 
rather accept an appointment in the same 
corps. Colonel Hayden said that he was 



46 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

very much surprised to find me in the caval- 
ry service, and more surprised that I had 
been following the daring and dashing horse- 
man, John Morgan, when men of my pro- 
fession were needed to engage in the very fas- 
cinating work of the Engineer Corps of the 
Confederates States. They both pressed me 
to accept a position ; but I loved my old Com- 
mander too well, and the service in which he 
had enlisted too much, to think of leaving 
him. So I could but decline respectfully; 
which I did. And yet I believe I have since 
almost regretted that I then rejected a post 
of such advantage, for of advantage it cer- 
tainly would have been in the days to come. 

After a short stay in Jackson, and on the 
arrival of General Breckinridge's forces from 
Baton Rouge, in which we were glad to find 
the old Kentucky Infantry Brigade, we started 
under General Breckinridge for Knoxville, 
Tennessee, by way of Mobile, Atlanta and 
Chattanooga. We reached Knoxville about 
the first of October. We were then mounted, 
and, under the immediate command of Lieut. 
Col. Bob Wood, of Mississippi, we started 
for Kentucky to join General Bragg. 

After two days' march toward Cumberland 
Gap we met Bragg's advance, under General 



Keliou Frankliu Pcddicord 47 

Kirby Smith, which caused a retrograde move- 
ment of the forces under General Breckin- 
ridge. On our return to Knoxville, where I 
met C. A. P., Col. St. Leger Grenville, Mor- 
gan's Adjutant-General, and Lieutenant Col- 
onel Hoffman of the Third Kentucky Cav- 
alry, now took command of our detachment, 
by order of General Morgan, and we began 
our march across the Cumberland Mountains 
to join our command, now a brigade, at 
Black's Shop. This position was eight miles 
in advance of Murfreesboro, on the pike lead- 
ing from that place to Lebanon, and on the 
extreme right of our main army, under Gen- 
eral Bragg, who had taken position there, 
while the enemy, then under Rosecrans, were 
stationed at Nashville. 

We reached the command and reported to 
the General about the last of October, after 
a very interesting march over a country pos- 
sessing romantic and picturesque scenery. 
All hearts were gladdened by the warm and 
hearty reception we received from the boys. 
The General, accompanied by his orderlies, 
came to our camp to see us just as soon as he 
heard of our arrival. Never did a mother 
receive her foundlings more fondly than did 



48 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

our glorious commander. Long shall we re- 
member that meeting! 

Knowing the fondness of the old squadron 
boys for each other, and for himself, General 
Morgan now proposed that they should be 
consolidated and organized into one select 
company, to act as scouts, subject to his per- 
sonal command and direction. A few days 
after, accordingly, an order appeared to that 
effect. 

All were highly pleased with this arrange- 
ment, and, as proof of it, scarce one day 
elapsed before all had rallied at the scouts' 
encampment. The feasting was enjoyed for 
several days, and I imagine that the neighbor- 
ing barn-yards suffered a good deal. Of the 
A, B, and C boys, some had been promoted, 
and others were promoted immediately upon 
our arrival. Yet the majority of those whom 
the General wanted to advance respectfully 
declined to accept appointments in "strange" 
companies, so much were they attached to 

r each other. Our term of enlistment had ex- 
pired, but no one mentioned it to the General, 
nor thought of quitting so long as the object 
for which they enlisted had not been attained. 
Neither did they re-enlist, but served faith- 

. fully to the bitter end. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicoi-d 49 

With the exception of those promoted, 
there were only eighty of the original mem- 
bers to be found after twelve months' service, 
and there had been nearly three hundred at 
first. War, death, and sickness had thinned 
their numbers, so that now there were, upon 
terra firma, to answer to roll call, scarcely one- 
third their original number. The others — 
the most of them — had answered their last 
roll call, "the soldier's last tattoo." It was 
oftentimes painful and sad to lose such brave 
and dear companions, yet when I think of our 
misfortunes, as I often do, I almost wish that 
I, too, were one of "the departed heroes." 

At the time of the formation of our com- 
pany, called "Morgan's Scouts," we were 
poody mounted, our war steeds being old 
veterans that had seen hard service, and, 
because of their indisposition, had been turned 
over to the quartermaster's department at 
Knoxville, from whom we drew them. The 
members of the Scouts, as they knew General 
Morgan personally and were quite frank with 
him, complained at every interview of their 
sorry horses. The General's reply always 
was, "You'll have better ones in a short time." 
How he got those "better ones" will be re- 
lated hereafter. 



50 Kelioii Franklin Feddicord 

Meanwhile, the scouts began their ex- 
ploits — exploits so much talked of by the com- 
mand, and so eagerly anticipated. Often- 
times, accompanied by the General, on such 
occasions impersonating the character of a 
scout, and to all appearances one of the com- 
pany, we would dash out on exciting and suc- 
cessful adventures, expeditions carried on in 
the vicinity of Gallatin and Nashville, and 
also in the neighborhood of Lebanon and 
Hartsville, where a brigade of Yankee in- 
fantry and a regiment of cavalry were dis- 
covered quietly encamped on the north bank 
of the Cumberland, and near the latter place. 
The cavalry was commanded by Colonel 
Moore, and was supported by another bri- 
gade of the enemy, six miles distant in the 
direction of Gallatin. 

As soon as this discovei-y was made, the 
General put his wits to work to "take them in 
out of the weather." It was about the first 
of December, 1862, and on the morning of 
the 6th of December orders were received to 
report to General Morgan's headquarters im- 
mediately, an order we as soon carried into 
effect. 

Having received from the General our 
special instructions, we moved off in the di- 




Kelion Franklin Peddicord 
1888 



Kclioii Franklin Peddicord 51 

rectlon of Hartsville, to be followed, almost 
immediately, by our brigade of cavali*y, and 
also by the Old Kentucky Infantry Brigade, 
commanded by General Roger B. Hanson, 
whose duty it was to hold possession of Leba- 
non during our attack. The position of the 
places closely resembled a Y: Nashville at 
the top and left, Hartsville at the right top, 
Lebanon at the junction, and Murfreesboro 
at the bottom. So' you will easily see that 
Nashville, not forgetting Gallatin, is as near 
to Lebanon as it is to Hartsville, and it would 
be quite easy for the enemy to intercept our 
line of retreat. This General Hanson was to 
guard against. 

When the scouts passed through Lebanon, 
late in the evening, they were met by many 
ladies, who, woman-like, had anticipated our 
movements, and urged and implored us to 
capture the Yankees at Hartsville. And they 
added, "Be sure to bring them through town 
so we can see them!" When you learn that 
most of the boys had sweethearts there, for it 
is a glorious old place in the estimation of 
most of our command, you will not wonder 
that they promised a prisoner on their return. 

As we left the town behind us the darkness 
fell, and our brigade, like a messenger of 



52 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

death, crept silenth/, cautiously along, In spite 
of the intense cold. Near midnight we ap- 
proached the Cumberland. Our forces had 
been divided into several detachments, prepar- 
atory to fording the river, the scouts leading 
the advance of the center detachment, at 
whose head rode General Morgan, and 
closely in the rear came the big guns, except- 
ing the two pieces called the "Bull Pups," 
that had so long accompanied the command 
on its raids and marches. 

These "Bull Pups" had been left in charge 
of an officer commanding a battalion of cav- 
alry, with instructions to make a feint on the 
enemy from the south bank of the river. He 
was to take the direct road to Hartsville, and 
the one leading to the good ford, which hap- 
pened to be just opposite to the Yankees and 
within rifle range. The officer in charge of 
the battalion was to get silently into position, 
without the knowledge of the enemy, and 
when the first gray streaks of morning made 
their appearance he was to attract the enemy's 
attention by opening a spirited cannonading 
from the now celebrated "Bull Pups." "The 
first gray streaks" was the signal, too, for the 
brigade to move into position on the north 
bank of the river. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 53 

When the advance reached the river we 
found a couple of ferry-boats which our 
friends had secreted for us. All the other 
detachments crossed by fording, and they had, 
I afterward learned, a wretched cold bath. 
Along with seven scouts I was the first to land. 
Just before shoving off from the shore I re- 
ceived my instructions from the General in 
person. He desired me to be both cautious 
and vigilant, so as not to alarm the enemy, 
and we were to approach his encampment 
silently, and to watch his actions until the 
General's arrival with the main force. 

Crossing quietly and safely, it was not long 
until we found the Yankee outpost, a cavalry 
picket consisting of an officer and fifteen men, 
posted not more than a quarter of a mile from 
their camp. The picket was in an old car- 
riage-house. One of the doors was standing 
open and there was a fire near the entrance of 
the house, and between us and the door. We 
were already within short range, and we 
could see the Yankees distinctly as they 
stepped out to look up the road. It was so 
veiy cold, so intensely cold, that they did not 
dream Morgan would come after them on 
such a night. Had they not felt so confident 



54 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

surely they would not have dismounted while 
on picket duty. 

But there we sat, silent as the tomb, watch- 
ing our prey, without even the privilege of 
shaking our feet in the stirrups to keep them 
from freezing. I never came so near freez- 
ing in my life. The rest of the scouts and the 
detachment with the General arrived just 
before day. 

When the General saw the pickets, which 
we pointed out to him, he said, turning to the 
captain of the scouts, "Tom, do you see those 
pickets?" The Captain answered promptly, 
"I do, distinctly." Then the General said, 
"Lead your scouts down there, and take them 
in, and if it can be avoided do not fire a gun." 

A moment after the boys were on all sides 
of the picket, advancing from all sides, and in 
less time than I can tell you, the Yankees 
were captured, disarmed, placed under arrest, 
and sent to the rear. It was done without a 
word, without a shot to make our presence 
known to the enemy. The General said 
before this was done that it would be all he 
would require of us. However, we escorted 
him to the camp, which was in sight, and as 
we galloped Into line one of the sentries, on 
camp duty, more watchful than the outpost, 



Kelion Franldin Peddicord 55 

fired his gun into the air, and almost imme- 
diately a reply from the "Bull Pups" came 
across the river. This had a pleasing effect 
in our favor, for, imagining the attack was 
from that direction, the Yankee battery very 
soon opened upon them in dead earnest. 
Meanwhile, each of our regiments had gained 
its position, and the line of battle was formed, 
though the Yankees were ranning in every di- 
rection, so complete was their surprise. 

Believing, from our actions, we were about 
to charge them mounted, the Yankees com- 
menced forming three distinct hollow squares; 
and then again, seeing our men dismount to 
fight, they formed into line parallel with ours. 
By this time the battery we had with us was 
placed in position in our line, and between the 
Seventh and Eighth Kentucky Cavalry. 
With the General at the head of the scouts, 
and supporting the battery, two of our pieces 
now opened fire on the Yankee battery, which 
was still dueUing with the "Bull Pups." 
This discharge caused the Yankees to see and 
realize their real position. They were sur- 
rounded completely. When our big guns 
began firing they commanded a little more 
respect and attention than the "Pups." The 
Yankees quickly reversed their guns, and the 



56 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

second shot hit one of our caissons, and there 
was an explosion. The General, the artil- 
lery and the scouts were enveloped in such a 
dense cloud of smoke and shells that every 
one, like myself, thought that he was the only 
living one^ — the only one who had escaped 
instant death. But on the disappearance of 
the smoke our surprise was great to find that 
no one was hurt except the drivers and the 
horses attached to the caisson. The escape 
of General Morgan seemed miraculous in- 
deed. 

Colonel Duke had led our line of battle 
into action, and now the entire line entered 
the conflict. Rebel and Yankee were at it, 
hot and heavy, still the General would not 
permit the scouts to advance, but held us 
under fire of the artillery, in reserve, as he 
said. But before long our time came. 

When it came the two' lines were fright- 
fully near each other. The Yankee cavalry 
regiment was on the rise before us when the 
General, calling the attention of the scouts, 
said, "Boys, yonder are those horses I've been 
promising you." And he added, "Be very 
particular how you take them, for you ob- 
serve that each horse has an armed man upon 
him," Then, giving Captain Tom some in- 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 57 

structions, he ordered us to advance, which we 
did at a brisk canter. Already the Yankee 
lines, in many places broken, were reeling 
and staggering like dainken men. We en- 
tered the lists just in time to fire the ending 
broadside and receive an unconditional sur- 
render. We likewise received the horses the 
General had presented, besides a great variety 
of "other things" that abound in Yankee 
camps. The engagement had lasted only an 
hour and ten minutes. 

The forces surrendered by Colonel Moore 
were the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, One Hundred and Sixth 
and One Hundred and Eighth Ohio Infantry, 
and the Second Indiana Cavalry, making a 
total of two thousand three hundred prison- 
ers. Sixty or seventy of the enemy were 
killed, and twice that number wounded. Our 
loss was nearly fifty killed and seventy or 
eighty wounded. Our captured horses were 
put in charge of some of the scouts, and the 
rest of us were ordered to watch the move- 
ments of the Yankee brigade that was in sup- 
porting distance of the one just captured. 
Though this brigade had heard our cannon- 
V ading, we had struck so quickly and rapidly 



58 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

that they could not, at least did not, come up 
in time. 

After marching over a mile we met the 
enemy's advance-guard, and the main force 
was marching in line of battle a short dis- 
tance in the rear of his advance. We drove 
the advance back in confusion upon the main 
column. Then a portion of our company 
held the ground, while the others withdrew 
to the rear and went into ambush, there to 
wait the moment to strike. 

On this occasion, when hard pressed by the 
main line, we suddenly gave way, as if we 
were demoralized, and this enticed the ad- 
vance out to pursue us. Then the boys in 
ambush opened fire on them so unexpectedly 
that they retired in confusion. While this 
was being enacted the scouts who first fell 
back selected another place of ambuscade. 
In this way, after receiving the Yankees 
warmly once or twice, they learned caution, 
and advanced slowly, being obliged to reform 
their lines often, which detained them so 
much the longer. 

When we arrived at the ford we found the 
prisoners, the horses and the artillery, as well 
as the captured stores, all safe on the other 
side of the river. The brigade with which 



Kclion Franklin Teddicord 59 

we had been skirmishing took the same posi- 
tion as the one captured had taken, and 
shelled the ford while we were crossing. But 
they showed no inclination to come over them- 
selves. Had they done so we certainly 
would have had the pleasure of escorting 
another Yankee brigade, under guard, to 
headquarters; for we found when we gained 
the south bank that our forces had been ar- 
ranged to give them a warm reception. 

By this victory the scouts had the good 
fortune to secure fine horses, pistols, blankets, 
oil and rubber coats, and blankets, and many 
small necessaries such as Uncle Sam's 
shoulder-straps carry. And, added to these 
things, there was a variety of sutler's stores. 

We got back to our encampment about 
midnight, cold, hungiy, sleepy, and very 
much fatigued. The next morning we were 
ordered to headquarters to guard and protect 
the captured spoils. The prisoners, after 
being relieved of the overcoats and surplus 
baggage, were turned over to General Bragg 
to be disposed of. It was currently reported 
afterward that Morgan drew them all up in 
line and gave this command, "One Hundred 
and Fourth Illinois, came out of them over- 
coats!" and then followed a similar command 



6o Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

concerning pocketbooks, and knives, and so 
on, to each regiment. It is true the overcoats 
were retained, but nothing else was. The 
overcoats were dyed black and worn by our 
1 men afterward. 

It was at this time that President Davis 
and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived In Mur- 
freesboro, and were present to witness Gen- 
eral Morgan's marriage ceremony, which 
took place very soon after. Until his mar- 
riage our leader was but a colonel, command- 
ing a brigade, and he received his lady — Miss 
Mattie Ready, of Murfreesboro — and his 
promotion at the same time, and received 
them both from the hands of the "wise and 
good, gentlemanly and Christian" President, 
who gave the bride away to "Gen. John H. 
Morgan," upon whom he bestowed many 
compliments for efficient and gallant service, 
as well as upon the command. 

The Yankees, though they had fought des- 
perately for an hour and ten minutes, were 
sadly abused by the populace on their arrival 
in Nashville after their exchange. Night- 
gowns, and even night-caps, were offered 
them, for the people said their conduct was 
disgraceful. But let us give honor tc whom 



Kclion Franklin Peddicord 6i 

honor is due. They fought as well as any 
troops could while they were engaged 

Immediately after the Hartsville engage- 
ment preparations were commenced for the 
"Christmas Raid" through Kentucky. The^ 
division marched to Alexandria, where the 
forces soon arrived, and organized into two 
brigades, the first under the command of Col. 
Basil W. Duke, of the Second Regiment, and 
the second under Colonel William C. Breck- 
inridge, of the Ninth Regiment. 

This last appointment caused the resigna- 
tion of Col. G. St. Leger Grenville, General 
Morgan's adjutant-general. The adjutant- 
general opposed the appointment of Colonel 
Breckinridge for several just reasons. It is 
true, Breckinridge was not the senior colonel, 
and the appointment was made over the head 
of the senior officer. After Colonel Gren- 
ville's resignation had been accepted. General 
Bragg made him his inspector-general of cav- 
alry. He was afterward captured in Chicagoj 
while attempting to effect the release of pris- 
oners from Camp Douglas. For this "crime" 
he was sentenced to death by a court martial 
held in Cincinnati, but his sentence was after- 
ward commuted by "our kind President" to 
hard labor at Dry Tortugas for life. I feel 



62 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

very sorry for the Colonel. He is as brave 
and gallant as the best. 

The command left Alexandria on the morn- 
ing of the 22nd of December, 1862, with the 
scouts in advance, a post of honor we retained 
during the entire trip. I met at this town 
both Cohimbus and Carolus, to whom the 
General had entrusted some special duty. 
We passed through New Middleton, ap- 
proaching the Cumberland opposite Carthage, 
and crossing Kaney Fork in sight of Carthage, 
and the Cumberland at Hardee's Ford, about 
five miles above, a ford named in honor of a 
general by that name. General Bragg's army 
had used the same ford some time before, 
when en route to Kentucky. 

We went into camp on the north side of 
the river, the scouts doing outpost duty all 
night, and the next evening we went Into 
camp at Tomkinsonville, Kentucky. The 
next evening at 9 o'clock the scouts entered 
Glasgow. At the General' s request we 
halted a few miles from town to feed, prepar- 
atory to a night's march, when another de- 
tachment took the advance, reaching Glas- 
gow a little after dark. 

It so happened that a Michigan cavalry 
regiment was marching through town at the 



Kelion Franklin rcddicord 63 

time our party entered, and a collision was 
the results, then a skirmish, then — a stampede 
of all parties ! Couriers flew to the General, 
and from each one he received a different ac- 
count as to the numbers of the enemy ; from 
one he learned that there was a brigade; 
from another, a division. But by the courier 
who claimed to be "the most reliable," he 
learned that the town was ///// of troops! 

The action of this detachment, on this oc- 
casion, did not please the General, neither did 
it add any laurels to the troops engaged, nor 
did the scouts regret it as they ought to have 
done, simply because, when the detachment 
passed us, they laughed at the boys, and 
called out that they "had played out." But 
they did not know for what purpose they had 
been halted by the General, else they would 
not have rejoiced. Yet, when they returned 
so quickly, and almost hors-de-combat, the 
scouts could not help reminding them of their 
boastful remarks. 

One of the General's aides brought us 
orders to move on Glasgow immediately, so 
as to ascertain what the difficulty was, and the 
whereabouts and number of the enemy, and 
report on the matter. On reaching Glasgow 
without adventure the company was dis- 



64 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

mounted to fight near the outskirts of the 
town, and we marched intO' the town in battle 
line, under the supposition that the enemy 
was still there. I had command, while Cap- 
tain Quirk went in advance, as a lookout. 

Just as we entered the city square several 
pistol shots, fired in rapid succession, were 
heard, and we, thinking the "Model Tom" 
was in danger, advanced tO' the rescue. But 
before we could reach him he had captured 
two Yankee cavalrymen, belonging tO' the 
force that had passed through the town, and 
known as "stragglers." Finding "all quiet 
along the Potomac" a courier was dispatched 
to the General. We had received orders 
some time before to advance by the upper 
pike and strike the Yankee line of communi- 
cation, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 
north of Green River bridge. The others 
were to proceed on the same line south of the 
bridge, and north of the Cave City. I was 
a member of the latter party. 

Leaving the sleeping inhabitants of Glas- 
gow guarded by Morpheus and Morgan, we 
marched silently through the city. The bri- 
gades arrived a little later, and we went into 
camp for the rest of the night. 

This was "the night before Christmas," 



Kelion Franklin Teddicord 65 

and during our march that night "Tom" and 
I stopped at several parties long enough to 
enjoy a dance with some of the girls, very 
much to their surprise — and gratification, 
they said. They had not the remotest idea 
that Morgan was near. But we danced our 
set, though the whole country' was alive with 
the enemy, and the object for which we had 
been sent was handsomely accomplished. 

Then taking a road leading from the lower 
pike to the upper, near the Bear Wallow, we 
reached it before the other party of scouts 
came up, we having gone two sides of the 
"angle" and they but one. This delay was 
caused by the collision which they had, during 
the night, with the forces marching through 
Glasgow, as I have already related. Soon 
after we reached the pike and placed our 
pickets out, the other portion of scouts came 
up and related their midnight adventures with 
the Michigan cavalry. Then our entire force 
was reformed, and we began our march for- 
ward. 

Before we had proceeded far a courier 
from the General, then several miles in our 
rear, reached us, with orders for us to return 
with the Information we had gained; also 



66 Kelion Franldiii Peddicord 

orders for the scouts that had Intercepted us 
to go forward at a double-quick, if they had 
not yet accomplished the object for which 
they had been sent. As they had not accom- 
plished it, the Captain again detached them 
and sent them forward. 

When about a mile in advance of us they 
ran into a picket of the Fifth Indiana Cav- 
alry, and one of them was sent back to inform 
Tom. His response was decisive and to the 
point. It was a command, "Attention, scouts ! 
Double quick! Forward!" The scouts 
answered by clapping spurs to their horses, 
and were off like a shot, flying up the pike at 
a break-neck pace. Coming up with the rest 
of the company just after they had captured 
several pickets, and ordering them to fall in 
our rear, on we went to the charge, for the 
enemy was in sight, straight ahead, and in 
line of battle. 

It seemed almost a suicidal act for fifty men 
to charge a regiment of five hundred men, 
yet the scouts charged and engaged them 
right gallantly. But there were, at the time, 
four companies placed in ambush, two on 
each side of the pike, and within rifle range. 
We did not observe this, and forming our line 
parallel to the line opposing, we commenced 



Kelion Fraiiklin Peddicoiii 67 

firing, hotly and rapidly. The force In am- 
bush then advanced, attacking us In the flank, 
much to our surprise and discomfiture. As 
soon as our position was discovered a counter- 
march was ordered, and we withdrew out of 
this trap, for It was nothing more. Reform- 
ing our line, the command was given, "Right 
wheel, double-quick ! Forward, march !" 
and on we flew. 

Meanwhile, the Yanks had become excited. 
The line In front had stood fast, while the 
right and left flank. In trying to surround us, 
had advanced to the pike, a hundred yards in 
advance of the line, which had remained sta- 
tionary. This being their condition at the 
time we charged them, right into their midst, 
yelling like Comanches, we routed them, and 
we stampeded and demoralized the first, or 
main line, by literally running over them. 
Turning short left, off of the pike In the direc- 
tion of Woodsonvllle, near Green River 
Bridge, we pursued them, capturing, killing 
and wounding some fifteen or more, and get- 
ting spoils of all kinds. We pursued them 
about three miles, and returned to the pike in 
time to meet the General and take the ad- 
vance. 

In this encounter several scouts were 



68 KelJon Franklin Peddicord 

wounded, though the wounds were not severe 
enough to entice them from their saddles. 
Captain Tom received two shots in the back 
of his head, but he would not permit the 
wounds to be dressed by a surgeon, though 
the General requested it. Upon receiving the 
praise and smiles of our commander for the 
gallantry displayed in the skirmish, and turn- 
ing our prisoners over to the provost marshal, 
we went rapidly to the advance, and reached 
Green River at sun-down. 

Crossing the riv^er we proceeded up the 
pike about six miles, then turned off "short 
left." It was dark and cloudy, and therefore 
a disagreeable march over a country road to 
Hammondsville, a distance of eight miles, 
where we went into camp until the main body 
came up. When General Morgan arrived 
the company was divided into several detach- 
ments, and sent in as many directions to hunt 
the enemy. No trooper could have envied 
us that pleasure, for it was now midnight, 
very dark, and raining hard. But knowing 
that "faint heart ne'er wins," we struck boldly 
out to make the necessary discoveries. When 
daylight retiu-ned it found all the scouts at 
headquarters, making their reports to the sat- 
isfaction of the General. 



Kelion Franklin Pcddicortl 69 

In the morning, as soon as we had fed, we 
took the advance in the direction of the rail- 
road, near Upton's. Just as we got in sight 
of the railroad we saw on our left and front 
some twenty or thirty Yankee infantrymen 
acting, apparently, as a railroad guard. At 
the time we discovered them we were march- 
ing in a lane. Putting our horses at the 
fence, those that did not go over rode it down, 
and we all passed over the field at a sweeping 
pace, charging the Yanks, who surrendered 
without firing a shot, though we gave them a 
round at short range. A small force, garri- 
soned at Upton's Station, was also captured 
soon afterward. 

"Lightning," our telegraph operator, 
tapped the wire, and his ofiice opened in a 
few minutes. Lieut.-Col. Hutchison, of the 
Second, with a detachment, compelled the 
surrender of the force in the stockade at 
Bacon Creek bridge, the first station south of 
Upton's, then burnt the bridge. This made 
the third time our command had destroyed 
that bridge. 

We were ordered to "'Nolinn" bridge to 
find the position of the stockade and the force 
that garrisoned it. Approaching quite near 
without their knowledge, we were about to 



70 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

open fire when an officer, with an escort, and 
bearing a flag of truce from the General, rode 
past us, to "demand an immediate and un- 
conditional surrender." The officer in com- 
mand agreed if we could show him three 
pieces of artillery. When he rode out to see 
the three pieces he saw six Instead, and he sub- 
mitted without a word. We proceeded then 
to burn the bridge and the stockade. 

As soon as this had been accomplished we 
moved on Ellzabethtown, found the outpost 
just at dawn, and went Into camp. The Gen- 
eral then ordered the scouts from the advance, 
and Instructed them to remain inside of the 
lines during the night. This he did to insure 
them some relief, since they had been on the 
outpost for several days and nights In suc- 
cession, without sleep or rest. 

We fared sumptuously that night on the 
many delicacies we had captured the day pre- 
vious from the sutlers' wagons, things In- 
tended for the Christmas holidays. These 
luxuries fell into unexpected hands, yet they 
were none the less appreciated by us for being 
unexpected. Possibly we enjoyed them all 
the more. 

Early the next morning we scouts went to 
the front, and relieved the troops acting as 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 71 

advance. Within two or three miles we met 
Federal pickets, and had a skirmish with 
them, driving them back to within a mile of 
town. A Yankee captain, under a flag of 
truce, met us. He carried a message to the 
General, demanding unconditional and im- 
mediate surrender of the forces; further, the 
message said that we were surrounded by an 
overwhelming force, and that escape was im- 
possible. We detained the Yankee captain 
while the message was forwarded to the Gen- 
eral by one of the scouts. 

When the scout returned he carried, for re- 
ply to the Yanks, the same message, except 
that the General's signature was attached. 
For the General, believing that the enemy 
were trying to gain time, demanded the same 
thing of them that they had demanded of 
us — unconditional surrender within fifteen 
minutes; and if this demand was not acceded 
to, they were ordered to move the non-com- 
batants out of town. Not receiving a re- 
sponse within the given time we had orders 
to advance, and we executed them with a will, 
driving the Yankee outposts back upon their 
main line with confusion. We then received 
instructions to make our way around the town 
and cut off their retreat. This we did, de- 



72 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

stroying the Louisville and Nashville Rail- 
road for over two miles, and capturing fifteen 
or twenty infantrymen who were guarding 
the road. The brigade encamped in and 
near the town that night. 

The next day we moved against the forces 
guarding the trestle at Muldrough's Hill, 
composed of two regiments. The one just 
captured at Elizabethtown was a very large 
regiment, about eight hundred strong. As 
there were two trestle works, both were at- 
tacked at the same time, and after a pretty 
warm fight of an hour's duration they sur- 
rendered unconditionally, after which all 
their effects, stores of all kinds, stockades and 
trestles were burned to the ground. The 
prisoners were paroled before dark. 

Regaining the pike we marched to the Roll- 
ing Fork River, and all, excepting the scouts, 
bivouacked on the south side. We crossed 
the river and went on outpost duty, keeping a 
vigilant watch all night. Early the next 
morning all of the command crossed to the 
north side, save one regiment, the Eighth, 
which was attacked by a large force of 
Yankees who had come up during the night. 

Colonel Duke, being still on the south side, 
superintending the crossing of the troops, 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 73 

took command of this regiment, and led them 
In person against the enemy. Our men 
charged the Yankees furiously and des- 
perately, hurling them back with great con- 
fusion, and almost capturing their battery, 
which had been throwing shells into the ford 
and into our camp beyond. One shell alone 
killed No. Three and the four horses he was 
holding. The artillery would certainly have 
been captured had not Colonel Duke fallen, 
severely wounded by a piece of shell, and been 
carried off the field unconscious. He was re- 
mxoved by Captain Tom, who, with a detach- 
ment, had been sent for him. The Eighth 
was withdrawn, and crossed without any 
further interference on the part of the 
Yankees, who seemed not inclined to renew 
the engagement. 

When the entire command had succeeded 
in crossing, and during the advance on the 
little town of Boston, a town on the Lebanon 
Branch Railroad about ten miles from Bards- 
town, we were deployed on both flanks as 
skirmishers until we drew near Boston, then 
were ordered to Rolling Fork, to notice the 
movement of the enemy; for they were In 
line on the opposite bank of the river, and 
showed no Inclination to come over. Re- 



74 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

maining some dme within short rifle range 
and within speaking distance, we finally re- 
turned to the advance and reported the situa- 
tion to the General. When we entered 
Bardstown we captured the small garrison sta- 
tioned there, besides a large and valuable 
amount of army stores. We remained all 
night, snugly and safely housed, and supplied 
by the citizens with everything necessary to 
the comfort and happiness of a soldier. 

Early next morning we started in the direc- 
tion of Lebanon, by way of the Springfield 
pike, and reached Springfield very late in the 
evening. It was cold, and there was a storm 
of driving rain and sleet. Then commenced 
a night's march long to be remembered by us 
for its severity and the suffering it caused. 
Finding that the enemy had concentrated a 
large force in Lebanon and fortified it 
strongly for the express purpose of intercep- 
ting our march, the General thought too much 
of his boys, and perhaps estimated his cap- 
tured stores too highly, to think of moving 
against vastly superior numbers, and those 
numbers equipped with a large amount of 
ordnance, all strongly entrenched and forti- 
fied. "Most assuredly not," said our General. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 75 

He did not for one moment intend to advance 
on their front, as they thought he would do. 

No, the programme for the night was quite 
differently arranged, doubtless to their sur- 
prise and disappointment. We fed our 
stock in and around Springfield, and were on 
the road a little after dark, headed toward 
Lebanon. We had decided to pass around 
Lebanon by taking a side road that passed 
within tw^o miles of that city, and intersected 
with the pike on Muldrough's Hill, a few 
miles south of town. When within four 
miles of Lebanon our forces bore off on the 
side road in silence, with part of the scouts in 
advance, while the others were ordered by the 
General to make a feint upon the enemy by an 
attack in front. This was done in gallant 
style, and the pickets were driven back into 
town in great disorder; we even charged 
almost into their main line, then stationed 
behind breast-works. 

Before we left them I imagine they were 
deeply impressed with the idea that Morgan 
was advancing on the town in force, instead 
of marching around it, as he was in reality. 
The farce was handsomely executed. A few 
men kept them under arms, and frightened 
them so that it is not supposed that a man was 



76 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

put on extra duty for sleeping on his post 
that night. And when daylight appeared we 
disappeared, and soon after rejoined our com- 
mand, then six miles south of Lebanon, en 
route to Campbellsvllle. After we had re- 
ported to the General he sent us to the ad- 
vance to join the rest of the scouts. 

Our accomphshed operator, "Light- 
ning" — Captain Ellsworth — was sent with us 
to tap the telegraph line a short distance 
ahead. In due time "LIghtning"opened his 
office; that Is, one of the boys climbed a tele- 
graph pole and separated a wire, and "Light- 
ning" attached his batteiy to It, 

It was truly amusing to hear the "oper- 
ator" repeating the dispatches as they went 
flying through his office. The operator at 
Danville, for Instance, Informs Campbells- 
vllle that the picket has just been run In by 
"Morgan," and that he has his traps fixed to 
leave at a minute's warning. Stanford says, 
"Morgan Is approaching with three thousand 
cavalry and several pieces of artillery. Send 
reinforcements." Campbellsvllle wires to 
Danville, "Morgan is now before Lebanon, 
engaged in a hot skirmish" ; and tells Stan- 
ford, at the same time, "All the troops able 
for duty have gone from Columbia stockade 



Kclion Franklin Peddicord 77 

at Green River Bridge." To Lebanon, 
Campbellsville says, "Save a few companies 
to protect the hospital and the army stores." 
From the many conflicting dispatches one 
might have thought there were fifty Mor- 
gans, each Morgan with a force before each 
town, in ten counties square! In reality, the 
boys seemed nonplussed, they were reported 
in so many places at the same time, and doing 
so many different things. They even doubted 
their own identity. To satisfy themselves, 
and to prove that they were not mistaken as 
to their whereabouts, some of them were 
found pinching themselves to discover 
whether they were members of Morgan's 
Cavalry or not. 

Having obtained all the news afloat we 
mounted and double-quicked into Campbells- 
ville, reaching there a little before sunset, and 
capturing two or three companies of infantry, 
three hundred invailds in the hospital, whom 
we paroled, and also capturing a large 
amount of commissary and quartermaster 
stores, and, I might add, a few dry-goods 
stores, all of which, when the General arrived, 
were in charge of the scouts. 

Meanwhile, our horses had been housed in 
the hotel and livery stables, and had every- 



78 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

thing they liked, and plenty of it, before 
them. The boys, likewise, feasted on the 
captured stores and the luxuries so bountifully 
provided by the ladies. "Lightning" was in 
his office the principal part of the night, being 
located on a conspicuous woodpile in the 
center ot the street. Early the next morning 
we were on our way to Columbia, which place 
we reached about 4 o'clock in the evening, 
and there we stayed till dark, feeding our 
horses, as well as ourselves, resting, and shop- 
ping at the several dry-goods stores. We 
did our shopping here because we knew that 
it was our last chance for some time to come. 
And here, too, two hospitals, containing 
about two hundred invalids, with a few well 
Yankees, were captured and paroled. 

At dark we mounted, and were soon on our 
way to Burksville, on the Cumberland River. 
This was the last night of the year 1862. 
Many incidents occurred to remind me of the 
fact, but they were so numerous that I have 
not the patience to pen them. It was one of 
the severest nights we had marched. Ten 
miles from Burksville we descended into a 
pleasant valley, through which runs a beauti- 
ful creek. The creek was frozen hard. 
There were many handsome farms and farm- 



Kelion Franklin Pcddicord 79 

houses along this stream, and most of these 
were brilliantly lighted up when we passed 
them, though it was past midnight. But 
when we remember the people were sitting 
up to give the New Year a fitting reception, 
it was not strange. 

We found as many as four houses in which 
the young people had collected to "trip the 
light fantastic," and neither the night nor the 
command will ever be effaced from the mem- 
ory of those same young people. For, fortu- 
nately for the scouts, and unfortunately for 
those attending the parties, "ladies not ex- 
cepted," the horses which had carried them to 
the party carried many of the boys away. 
Such a temptation could not be resisted by the 
scouts, especially as the horses were in such 
good position for leading off. 

Was it not almost a "blot" upon the char- 
acters of the bold cavaliers, their leaving the 
young ladies to "foot it home" next morning? 
It may have been, but as "our" now excellent 
President so often says, "Not if we know our- 
selves, and we think we do." I may mention, 
by way of apology, perhaps, that the next day 
we would be in Tennessee, and hence in our 
own lines, and such acts would not be per- 
,mltted by the Confederate States. Besides 



8o Kelion Franklin Peddicoid 

that, when we started on this raid thirteen of 
our company had been left behind because 
they were not mounted, and they had our 
promises that we would bring each a 
"charger." 

Very many were the complaints made to 
the General, when he passed half an hour 
later, concerning the horses. He told the la- 
dies, who insisted that their horses must have 
been taken by some of his men, that if his 
scouts had really taken their fine riding- 
horses he would haA^e every one of the men 
shot without the benefit of a court-martial. 
It seemed as if many of the ladies believed the 
General was in earnest, for they, the tender- 
hearted, afterward begged him to spare our 
lives, but please send their riding-horses. 
This he promised to do, I have no doubt. 

On the General's reaching the town, about 
4 o'clock in the morning, he found us in 
quiet possession. We had taken it without a 
struggle at 3 o'clock, when we commenced 
to cross the river, on our way to Livingston, 
Kentucky. Nothing of interest happened 
during the march. The excitement of the 
raid was fast expiring, and the boys were nod- 
ding as they rode along. Tired nature must 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 8i 

have rest, and nature certainly had been se- 
verely tested during the past two weeks. 

Livingston was gained before dark, and, 
passing through the town, we camped sev- 
eral miles on the road leading to Smithville, 
which town was reached, without excitement, 
on ithe succeeding day. Remaining near the 
town over night, the scouts received orders 
the following morning to march to Liberty, 
a distance of fifteen miles, which place we 
reached on the 7th of January, and we re- 
mained there, on outpost duty, until April. 

During this period, from January 7th to 
the first of April, we had, for the better part 
of the time, no support nearer than McMinn- 
ville, thirty miles distant, where the General 
had his headquarters, with a part of his com- 
mand camped near him, the most of it being 
stationed at Woodbury and Readyville, and 
on the enemy's left flank. For the enemy 
was in possession of Murfreesboro, and "Old 
Rosey" was in command there. Our com- 
pany was on his left, and something like 
twenty miles from Murfreesboro. General 
Bragg's forces were in Tullahoma. 

The stirring incidents, daring scouts, hot 
skirmishes, and spirited engagements in 

6 



iz Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

which we took part during the winter cannot 
be related, as I would desire, on account of 
space. But I will mention a few. 

Seldom, if ever, were we idle while our 
camp was in Liberty. The field which the 
General had intrusted to our surveillance was 
so extensive as to keep us almost constantly 
in the saddle. We watched the movements 
of the enemy night and day, and we skir- 
mished with him daily, sometimes near Mur- 
freesboro, or near Lavergne, Nashville, and 
in the vicinity of Gallatin, Huntsville, Car- 
thage, and Lebanon. This was a mammoth 
undertaking for one company, yet we suc- 
ceeded in gaining the approbation of our 
General. 

By our vigilance, our daring scouts and 
rapid movements, we kept the General thor- 
oughly posted as to the whereabouts of the 
enemy. Very often the report would reach 
him, "The scouts are cut off !" but he would 
always reply, "They will cut on again!" 
Such a thing had so often happened without 
our failing to report, or without in any way 
causing us to be detained, that he had no 
fears as to our success, and our safe return 
at the proper time, together with all the nec- 
essary intelligence. It did not matter how 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 83 

severe the struggle, how long it lasted, or 
how desperately it was contested, it was 
called then, and it will be called in the writ- 
ten history of the great struggle, "only a 
skirmish." Yet in no part of the service is 
daring gallantry and real pluck better illus- 
trated than in these hand-to-hand encounters. 
There is in them a greater display of cour- 
age than there is in a general engagement. 

Besides all this, it is a deplorable fact that 
the number of brave comrades killed in "only 
a skirmish" is not few. Indeed, there are 
often enough killed to startle those who have 
had no experience in the "art of killing." 
This fact is not to be effaced or forgotten 
when considering these so-called "skir- 
mishes." 

Well, now for some of the incidents of 
those months, incidents which may not be re- 
lated in their proper order, but which are 
true. 

"Once upon a time" General Morgan, with 
a small escort, reached Liberty, and, taking 
a part of the scouts who wore blue overcoats, 
started in the direction of the City of Rocks. 
Many were the surmises of the boys as to 
the General's intentions, but most of them 
came to the conclusion that they were to pay 



84 Kelion Fraiiklin Peddicord 

Nashville a visit in person. But it was all 
surmise, for he alone knew the purpose. 
When we came to the river we saw a Yan- 
kee scout on the opposite bank, within hailing. 

In his quick way the General demanded, 
"Whose command is that?" They replied, 
"Morgan's scouts from Nashville. What 
command is that?" The General replied, in 
a real New England tone, "Ninth Kentucky 
Cavalry from Murfreesboro," and added, 
"Have you any late papers?" When the 
Yankee officer, whose name was Morgan, re- 
plied that he had, the General remarked that 
he would send some of his men over for 
them. As the Stone River was very high, 
we crossed in a ferry-boat, some half a dozen 
of us, in charge of "Captain Tom." When 
we gained the opposite bank we rode care- 
lessly up the slope, filed right and left, and 
enclosed the captain and six of his men be- 
fore they suspected or had time to say us 
nay. Of course the late papers were soon 
in our hands. 

There was one man a little distance off 
whom we could not encircle, and on seeing 
our action he took wing to flee away, but he 
was not quicker than one of our scouts who 
pursued him. It was a hot but short chase, 



Kelion Fraiiklin Pcddicoid 85 

for the scout's second shot from his six- 
shooter unhorsed him. He proved to be an 
Indian, having long black hair. His steed 
he rode liice "a thing of life." 

The scout that shot him, and who was 
warmly praised for his gallant conduct, while 
disarming him of certain unnecessary articles, 
espied, unpleasantly near, a line of battle. 
This line had been fomied and left there 
by the captured officer, who had gone to the 
ford to make some observations. On report- 
ing this information to the General he or- 
dered us to cross back, with our prisoners. 
As the ferry-boat could not carry all, three 
of the boys swam it on their horses. This 
collision with the enemy probably foiled the 
plans of the General, for he countermarched, 
and, after scouting some, returned to camp. 

On another occasion, when our company 
was scouting in the direction of Lebanon, on 
arriving at the "twelve-mile post" from that 
place, intelligence reached us that the enemy 
was in force in the little village of Statesville, 
which was on our short left, six miles distant. 
Being on the lookout for specimens of that 
description, it was soon determined that we 
would go and see for ourselves. It was a 
well-known fact that scouts never reported 



86 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

"what others had seen," but what they them- 
selves had actually seen "with their own 
eyes." Therefore, we filed off on the road 
leading to Statesville, advancing at a double- 
quick pace. The enemy's rear-guard was in 
sight when we reached the town, but was 
marching in the direction of Auburn. 

Several Rebels who had been badly 
wounded by the Yankees, were in town, and 
the female inhabitants were in a high state of 
excitement, many women running out into the 
street to intercept our march, and begging 
and imploring us not to advance farther with 
such a band, telling us the enemy's force was 
very large, and included infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery. However, very little heed was 
paid to their story, but with "fire-lit" eyes, 
color in the cheeks, and a terrific yell, such 
as only Rebels could give, we charged at a 
pace by no means slow, irrespective of num- 
bers, driving the rear upon the first regiment 
hurriedly and confusedly. The rear regi- 
ment was compelled to face about and form 
line to the rear in support of its guard. 

This was the principal object for which we 
charged, to cause them to show "an inferior 
force" their entire number. Before we left 
them we had the satisfaction of seeing the 



Kelioii Franklin reddicord 87 

number of regiments of infantry, cavalry, and 
pieces of artillery, all of which took position 
to the rear in anticipation of a general attack. 
Our purpose attained, with a parting salute 
into their main line we disappeared on a left- 
hand road leading to Alexandria and back to 
the pike we so recently had left. We gal- 
loped away much to their surprise and morti- 
fication. 

It was five miles to Alexandria, seven to 
Liberty, making twelve miles in all, and the 
enemy when we left was within eight miles of 
either Liberty or Auburn on a road that 
struck the pike from Liberty to Murfreesboro 
at right angles and half way between the 
places, and this was the reason for our haste 
to report to camp near Liberty, where most 
of the brigade had arrived the previous day. 

When two miles from Liberty we met Gen- 
eral Morgan and staff, who had just come 
from McMinnville. His first question was: 

"Boys, where are the Yanks?" 

It was a surprise to him to receive for 
reply : 

"General, four thousand, composed of in- 
fantry, cavaliy and artillery, commanded by 
General Hall, passed through Statesville 



88 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

scarce an hour and a half ago on the road in- 
tersecting with this pike three miles distant." 

Thanking us for such prompt intelligence, 
he dismissed us with instructions to go to our 
quarters in town and report to him at day- 
light. 

Armed cap-a-pie, not sooner did the first 
gray streaks of morning appear in the east 
than the company were "fronted into line" 
at the General's headquarters, for duty. On 
receiving his instructions — ever brief and 
pointed — we moved off rapidly in the direc- 
tion of Auburn to execute the orders, "Find 
the enemy, attack and hold him in check until 
you are relieved by the brigade which will 
soon follow you." This done, nothing more 
would be required of us during the day. 

Down the pike we flew at a frightful rate, 
and soon came in sight of Auburn and, a little 
farther on, the smoke of the enemy's camp- 
fires. Yet, without reining our horses, we 
passed through the town, up the pike, and 
into a dense cloud of smoke rising from the 
deserted camp-fires. But, lo! the birds had 
early flown in the direction of Murfreesboro. 
Again that oft-repeated command, "Double 
quick; forward, march !" 

Rowels were used eagerly, and our 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 89 

chargers, with nostrils distended, answered 
with increased speed. Arriving at farm- 
houses on the way we were told that the 
enemy was only a short distance ahead, and 
that the officers were hurrying their men for- 
ward by reminding them that "Morgan will 
get you," etc. 

With videttes in the van we overtook them 
at Milton, ten miles from Murfreesboro, 
They discovered us almost as soon as we 
espied them, informing us "gently" of the 
fact, with a round of grape and canister shot, 
and thereby wounding one of the vidette's 
horses severely. The second shot exploded 
but a short distance above my head, while I 
was leading the company, "Captain Tom" 
being with the videttes. 

We pressed steadily on, however, until the 
advance opened on the cavalry guarding the 
rear. Then right-obliquing and forwarding 
into line, leaving our horses in charge of No. 
Three, we dismounted to fight, deploying as 
we advanced. The enemy's main force could 
be seen distinctly just beyond the edge of the 
town, the rear-guard holding possession of 
the village. On consolidating with the fire 
of the advance the cavalry guarding the ene- 
my's rear gave way; but soon after a squad 



90 Kelion Franlilin Peddicord 

of "Web-Foots" was seen hurrying up the 
pike to the post which the cavalry had de- 
serted. 

The boys made the discovery quiclcly, 
warning each other with, "Look out, boys; 
here come the Webs !" 

We had already gained a position in an 
open field, protected by a large fence on our 
left and front, and as the infantry advanced 
in fours up the pike we opened so hot a fire 
upon them that they retreated also. At the 
same time their main force was in an open 
field, with a regiment on each flank, field and 
staff in the center, forming one of the grand- 
est "hollow squares" that we ever saw. 
Their ordnance was stationed on the pike, 
well supported. It was a magnificent sight 
and admirably executed. They doubtless be- 
lieved that we were about to charge them, 
but we had no such intention. 

One of the General's aids. Captain Wil- 
liams, of South Carolina, informed us the 
command was near. Until they reached us 
^ve were under a terrific fire of shot and shell, 
with no alternative save to hold our position 
until relieved. It was a glad sight to us to 
see the Third Kentucky Cavalry take post im- 
mediately on our left and rear, followed 



Keliou Franlilin Peddicortl 91 

closely by the Second, which formed on our 
right, and the Tenth, which took place on our 
extreme left. We knew by this that the 
General's eye was upon us, and our anxieties 
were over. 

The column advanced, and we were re- 
lieved with liberty to act as we pleased. Well, 
we pleased to go around the enemy and strike 
him between that place and Murfreesboro, 
which we did successfully, capturing seven- 
teen flying cavalrymen, the Yankee general's 
horse fully equipped, exterminating a member 
of the "Freedmen's Bureau" who was found 
in arms against his friends and country, and 
then pursued a detachment of cavalry with a 
few miles of their main encampment, which 
perhaps had been sent for reinforcement. 

On returning to the scene of action, the 
firing, which had been very severe, had ceased 
and we were in some doubt as to how the 
battle had terminated. But while passing 
near the enemy he took the liberty of throw- 
ing a few shells, without injury to any one, 
which was good evidence that he was in de- 
fiance still. On finding and reporting to the 
General, he was exceedingly angry; and well 
might he be — the r.mmunition had been ex- 



92 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

hausted, many of his "bravest and best" had 
fallen, and the enemy was still unconquered. 

Our lines went forward with great spirit 
and gallantry to their rear, but unfortunately 
we compelled the I'ankees to take refuge in 
one of the best positions to be found any- 
where. This was on a hill in shape resem- 
bling a pyramid, in the center of a valley, not 
connected with the neighboring range, thickly 
wooded and naturally fortified with immense 
rocks, which afforded ample protection to the 
enemy. We found it impossible to dislodge 
him from this position, although our troops 
fought desperately. 

The General justly complained that there 
vvas not concert of action, and seemed deter- 
mined to take them, ammunition or not. 
But ere the assault began the Yankees were 
heard loudly cheering, and we knew reinforce- 
ments had arrived. 

Quickly turning to the boys, the General 
told them to halloa manfully, and such yells 
filled the air as were never heard before, I am 
sure. He then dispatched an aide to the 
officer commanding his artillery, with instruc- 
tions to silence the Yankee battery. 

In the short space of half an hour nine 
men were killed and fifteen wounded — surely 



Kelion Franklin rcddicord 93 

a great sacrifice of lives just to silence a bat- 
tery. But they hushed the Yankee and com- 
pelled him to "limber up." This was the 
conclusion of the battle of Milton. 

With sad and depressed hearts we sullenly 
withdrew and began our march to camp. 
Foiled, but not whipped, we always remem- 
bered it as a blanlc page in our book of suc- 
cesses. Although the enemy received heavy 
reinforcements, he had not the impudence or 
pluck to follow us. Our encampment was 
reached late, and we all went to sleep without 
being rocked. 

To mention all of our actions would be to 
write a voluminous history. Such a purpose 
I have not the mind nor the time to under- 
take, and if I had you would not, I fear, have 
sufficient patience to follow my meanderings. 
I will only "touch and go." 

At one time, being advised by a scout that 
the garrison stationed at Carthage had crossed 
a large foraging party to the south bank of 
the Cumberland, we quickly mounted and 
started in that direction. The outpost which 
had been pushed forward in case of a sur- 
prise was soon discovered on a distant hilltop. 
A halt was ordered, preparatory to making 
a charge on horse. This was contrary to our 



94. Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

usual custom, as we generally dismounted to 
fight. It was plainly seen that the enemy 
outnumbered us, there being upward of thirty, 
while our number was scarce twenty-five. 
But in imagination we were much more. 

Dismounting to tighten our saddle girths, 
buttoning up our "faded grays," and with 
everything closely rigged, we again mounted 
and advanced at a brisk canter. We were not 
perceived until within gunshot. We hoped 
to close on them before they could form, but 
although they showed some confusion at our 
rapid advance, the commanding officer was 
an old veteran, keeping his men well in hand 
and pretty steady, and much to our surprise 
and without our consent gave the command 
to fire when we were but ten yards distant. 
And yet the greatest wonder to all was that 
none received a hurt. They were Infantry, 
without a second shot unless they reloaded, 
and it was not in our program to give them 
that advantage, so they came to the position 
of "charge bayonets," while we reined our 
horses at a respectful distance beyond their 
reach. We presented "navies" with the com- 
mand "Surrender, and ground arms!" which 
was instantly done, they perceiving our ad- 
vantage over them. 



Kelioii Fi-aiiklin rcddicoicl 95 

Putting the prisoners under the protection 
of some of the company en route to camp, we 
thought a further little venture might be in- 
teresting as well as profitable. On descend- 
ing into the valley leading into the river we 
could see trains of wagons guarded by in- 
fantry' scattered over the various farms, gath- 
ering forage. 

Seeing some half a dozen wagons on the 
nearest plantation with only a small guard, 
we clapped spurs and went, belter skelter, 
right into their midst, without saying so much 
as "By your leave, gentlemen," Not a shot 
was fired, so much were they surprised and 
frightened. Taking their guns and putting 
the prisoners in the wagons with pistols un- 
pleasantly near to each driver's head, we 
moved off at a pace that would rival an ex- 
press train, before the "Webs" had time to 
come to the rescue. We were very certain 
they could not catch us; infantry never did. 
Liberty was soon in view, and not long after 
we had the pleasure of turning our spoils and 
prisoners over to the General, 

At another time, while scouting in the vi- 
cinity of "old Rosey," we charged a large 
wagon-train out on a foraging expedition. 
They had a guard m.uch too numerous for us 



96 Kelion Franldin Peddicord 

to capture, but we successfully ran twenty of 
their wagons off in charge of their drivers, 
who were pressed into service, and, though 
hotly pursued by a larger force, carried them 
safely to camp. 

After no little hot skirmishing, sometimes 
we could be found on the banks of the Cum- 
berland between Gallatin and Carthage at- 
tacking gun-boats ; at other times, chasing the 
enemy down by the Hermitage; then at Mur- 
freesboro fighting with Rosecrans's outpost, 
or pursuing the enemy's cavalry and fre- 
quently being pursued ourselves by forces 
more than our size. Very often we caused 
trains to lay over at way stations by discon- 
necting the rails, and thus secured a variety of 
"Shoulder-strapped gentry" in connection 
with other articles of value. When the bri- 
gade accompanied us we had always the post 
of honor — the van. 

Not few were the skirmishes on such occa- 
sions, for then we were a more saucy and 
formidable band, knowing that our General 
was in supporting distance. No slight bar- 
rier turned us back when the boys were all 
along. During the winter's campaign we 
twice gave up Liberty to the enemy so that we 
could take position on Snow's Hill, two and a 



Kelion Frauklin Peddicord 97 

half miles in our rear, which nature had 
strongly fortified. 

At the first engagement, after a severe con- 
test, we repulsed and drove them almost to 
their main lines in great disorder. The 
second ended not so handsomely for us. By 
a flank movement, with superior numbers, 
they compelled us to withdraw. But at 
neither engagement was the General or Col- 
onel Duke with us, and to this our failure 
may be laid. 

We were commanded by Colonel Gano of 
the Third and Colonel Breckinridge of the 
Ninth, and it was by them arranged that 
when the division under General Stanley 
was advancing upon us that we were to fall 
steadily back to Snow Hill and there give him 
fight. We were to act the part of seeming to 
skirmish with him and, if possible, draw him 
into our position. When that was accom- 
plished we were to take post on our extreme 
right and front and watch them to keep them 
from flanking us. 

We perceived, however, that their inten- 
tion was to flank our left, and we hastened to 
our lines on top of the hill to report. Ar- 
riving alongside of the battery, we dis- 
7 



98 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

mounted and formed a line in advance of our 
guns, all the time under a severe fire from the 
enemy's artillery. 

Meanwhile, one regiment after another 
was seen passing in the direction of our left, 
we occupying the center. Very soon after 
the officer guarding our left reported by a 
courier that the enemy was at his front, the 
next courier said they were hard pressed, and 
the third courier from the officer reported 
that he was compelled to give way before 
such odds, and not until then was the Third 
Regiment sent to his support, followed by the 
Fifth. 

It was too late, however, to render the 
assistance needed or to regain the position 
thus lost, though not too late to hold the 
enemy in check until the withdrawal of our 
forces, which we had commenced to do. 
This was our only alternative, for we were 
certainly outflanked. 

The regiments withdrew in order, leaving 
us deployed as skirmishers, in front of where 
our battery had been stationed, which was 
now on the way to the rear, where we were 
soon ordered. 

On reaching the road by which we were 
flanked the guns of the Third and Fifth were 



Keliou Fraiiklin Peddicord 99 

opening sharply, and, not being under orders, 
"Tom" led us in that direction for new ad- 
ventures. In a few moments we were in it 
as hotly as the rest, but to no effect. They 
had gained the position and it was impossible 
to dislodge them. 

Again, at all hazards, we were instructed 
to hold the rear, so that the others could 
move off; but we did not tarry long however, 
though we stayed long enough to have seven 
men badly wounded. 

Retreating over a mile, we met Colonel 
Duke, who took command, to the entire satis- 
faction of all, and formed his line of battle. 
This was done to no purpose, however, for 
when the Yankees struck the main road they 
took the Liberty end, expecting to capture at 
least a portion of the command. In this they 
were mistaken, for we had withdrawn in time. 
They went back to Liberty and encamped, 
while Duke kept the hill. 

The scouts were sent out after dark to 
watch the enemy's movements. We had not 
proceeded far before we engaged a force 
which seemed to be equal to us in number. 
We had a hot skirmish to drive them back. 
This force was afterward discovered to be 
General Morgan and escort, who had just 



loo Kelion Franklin Peddicoi-d 

arrived from McMinnville, and not knowing 
what had occurred, had struck the road be- 
tween us and the enemy. He laughed 
heartily the next morning as we were pursuing 
the enemy through Liberty. 

The enemy thought to hold his ground, 
but we made it so hot that to save himself he 
was compelled to give way. However, a 
part of the rear-guard was captured before 
they gained their lines. The enemy's force 
consisted of four brigades, two each of cav- 
alry and infantry, with artillery attached, 
while we could muster but one brigade and a 
limited amount of artillery. Such a large 
force could not be handled successfully by us, 
and all we could do was to work on their 
edges. 

Before the winter was over this same force 
met the General and gained a decided victory 
over him at McMinnville by driving "him- 
self, wife and staff, and one company of 
couriers" out of town, the brigade being 
stationed at several different points some dis- 
tance from his headquarters. Even then he 
handled them so roughly that they pressed 
him very timidly. 

The General and Lieut.-Col. Martin of 
the Tenth Regiment were the last to leave 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord loi 

town. Passing down one street the Yankees 
tried hard to intercept them; as it was, they 
met the head of the Yankee column, into 
which they emptied two rounds from their 
pistols, unhorsing two of them. At the same 
moment Colonel Martin was shot through 
and through, near the center of his breast. 
However, he paid little attention to his 
wound, for he joined his regiment that even- 
ing, ten miles distant. 

With these and many more of such adven- 
tures the winter wore away, and spring, 
"more sweet, more gay," returned. The 
General's brother, Maj. R. C. Morgan, late 
of A. P. Hill's staff, was ordered to take com- 
mand of a regiment under General Morgan, 
which was then forming, and which was 
afterward called the Fourteenth Kentucky 
Cavalry. The scouts, by order of the Gen- 
eral, reported to the then Colonel, as our 
chief said "only temporarily," but we never 
left him until captured. Our letter in the 
Fourteenth was B, and we were the Colonel's 
pets. At the time we were attached to the 
regiment it was encamped on Oby River, 
not far from the State line, and about ten 
miles from the town of Burksville, Kentucky. 

There were several new companies in our 



102 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

regiment whose officers knew very little about 
military tactics. Company B, because of its 
long experience, was styled "Veterans." We 
were required by the Colonel to drill these 
new companies, which was done daily for 
several \v^eeks in succession. The sergeants 
of Company B were oftentimes in command 
of the battalion on drill; others drilled com- 
panies, our corporals commanded platoons, 
and privates were in charge of sections, with 
their own company officers in the ranks learn- 
ing the arts of war, alongside of their own 
men. I am pretty sure they will never forget 
the three drills daily during our days of in- 
struction. Company B certainly impressed 
them with the belief that they were not only 
veterans, but men of energy and of "long 
wind." When they had received their educa- 
tion and their "sheepskins" in proof our at- 
tention was called in other directions. 

Scouting again became our duty, vei*y often 
making short raids into Kentucky, and patrol- 
ing the Cumberland generally. I will give 
you only one of our many expeditions, and 
that because you will probably take more in- 
terest in it, a near relative of your family 
having been in command. 

A great many scouting parties had been 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 103 

detached to Albany so frequently that it had 
become a disagreeeable duty, the uistructions 
given them being nearly the same every time. 
When the time arrived for Company B to go 
on duty it happened that the Albany scout 
was again the order of the day. The in- 
structions on reporting at headquarters were 
not only short, but simple and eaisly under- 
stood. They were, "Proceed to Albany with 
thirty men, and find out where the enemy is." 
Determined to do so, we filed out on the 
Albany road, but not before Captain "Tom" 
remarked, "I hope that you will make the 
necessary discoveries, for not until then will 
these long marches cease." 

Vowing that we would never return save 
with the intelligence required, we galloped 
off. Crossing the Oby and Wolf rivers we 
commenced to ascend the hills beyond, In the 
severest fall of rain that man ever witnessed, 
which continued till dark, and when the de- 
tachment was within four miles of Albany. 
The water ran down the sides of the moun- 
tain In torrents, and It was with great d'lffi.- 
culty that we ascended. Our horses could 
scarcely keep their feet with such a fall of 
water against them. 

Halting two miles from town and leaving 



I04 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

all but three men and a guide to await our 
return, we entered with caution the county- 
seat of Clinton County. Not a light was vis- 
ible to cheer the wanderers, and all was still 
as death. The noise made by the clattering 
of our horses' feet sounded hollow and "pass- 
ing strange." It seemed as if we were hun- 
dreds of feet below terra firma, passing 
through and exploring some subterranean vil- 
/age. Well might it have been appropriately 
called "the Deserted Village," from its 
gloomy, desolate, and extremely sad appear- 
ance. 

After an interview with an old Southerner 
living near the town, who had nothing re- 
liable to communicate, and finding no enemy, 
we returned to the place where the rest of the 
scouts had been left. Having previously de- 
cided to send all of the men with the excep- 
tion of six and the guide to camp under the 
charge of a sergeant, we selected the best 
scouts and horses. 

Returning again to Albany, we took the 
Monticello road, with the full and express de- 
termination to find the enemy if there was 
any on top of the ground. When daylight 
appeared we had far advanced into Wayne 
County, over which the notorious Yankee 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 105 

bushwhacker, "Tinker Dave Beatty," ruled 
with an Iron will. Although the actions of 
some of the Inhabitants looked veiy sus- 
picious, yet our little band advanced without 
any interruption, but on the alert. 

Crossing Poplar Mountain and passing 
into the valley, we halted to see a friendly 
doctor; but not until our picket had been 
sent forward in case of a surprise, for we sus- 
pected that the enemy was not far off. Call.- 
ing to see the doctor we found him absent, 
but his lady Informed us that he had gone to 
visit a patient near the "Yankee encamp- 
ment," and would soon return. It was ex- 
citing to one's nerves to hear that the enemy 
was so near. 

Mounting our horses we advanced scarce 
three miles, when we halted opposite a 
widow's house, whose son was In Wolford's 
Yankee Kentucky Cavalry. All of the sur- 
roundings Intimated that the enemy was near, 
but nothing save a sight of him would do us. 
Ordering two of the boys ahead for "look- 
outs," with the intention of soon following, 
we dismounted to Inspect the widow's estab- 
lishment to see If there was anything about 
that had Uncle Sam on It, but discovered 
nothing worth carrying away. I am, how- 



io6 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

ever, convinced of the fact that the widow 
sent a courier to camp to apprise them of our 
whereabouts. 

Just as we mounted there came the sharp 
report of a Minie, then another, and still 
another in quick succession. We soon 
learned that there was something in that di- 
rection that had "U. S." upon it. As proof 
of that fact, there came the videttes, flying 
like the wind, from whom I learned that a 
large force of Yankee cavalry was hotly pur- 
suing them. I quickly instructed the guide 
and those with me to fall rapidly back to the 
gap through which the road passes over 
Poplar Mountain, then gave them orders to 
dismount and fight upon reaching there and if 
possible to hold the gap, and I would join 
them In a short while. 

The place selected was one that had been 
closely observed while passing it, being a 
position possessing advantages closely re- 
sembling the Pass of Thermopylae, so often 
quoted in history, and where a chosen few, 
under Leonidas, defeated such multitudes. 
Do not let my comparisons amuse you too 
much. I will confess they are sometimes 
used strangely and no doubt inappropriately; 
yet there must be some likeness, you will 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 107 

admit. Nor do I wish you to think the com- 
mander of this httle band a Leonidas, or the 
gap in the mountain Thermopylae. Most 
assuredly not; but think you what it pleases, 
for it is time to end this topic. 

Here come the Yankee cavalry, full tilt, 
the scouts being already out of sight. But 
the "Black Horse," which had so often 
proven himself true, thereby gaining his 
rider's entire confidence, stood firm, with his 
head to the foe, violently champing his bit, 
eagerly and nervously watching the approach 
of the then over-confident enemy, awaiting 
the word to go. As they turned an angle in 
the road, less than one hundred yards dis- 
tant, we took the liberty of counting them. 
I counted seventeen, and still they came ; and 
as they came the cry was "Halt! Halt!" — 
a word with no meaning in this case. 

The "Black Horse" was still standing 
deathly still. The enemy opened the firing 
about sixty yards off, to which one of Colt's — 
English — best replied twice in quick succes- 
sion, and then the gallant "Black," with his 
rider's permission, executed one of the most 
brilliant feats in horse history. Rearing up 
and posing gracefully, he changed his front 
at one leap, and quick as thought was in a 



io8 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

dead run, followed by the Yanks, firing and 
yelling, but to no purpose, for the "Black" 
had the heels on them. 

Dropping reins and turning half around in 
the saddle, several well-directed shots were 
aimed back when occasion required It and op- 
portunity offered, and the shots seemed to 
carry some little Influence with them. We 
noticed that those leading the column were 
not so eager or so particular to use their 
rowels too often, for fear of getting dis- 
agreeably near. 

When near the gap, where my men were 
lying in ambush, I reined up, hoping to draw 
the enemy on; but the situation of the coun- 
try looked so suspicious that they held up 
also. Thinking they would pursue, I again 
rode rapidly forward, passing through the 
gap without seeing a man, yet knowing that 
they were there and on the alert. 

But the suspicious foe could not be pre- 
vailed upon or enticed to follow a single 
horseman through, imagining, doubtless, that 
there was a larger force awaiting them In 
ambuscade. We remained there for some 
time, then perceiving that it was not their 
Intention to advance on us,, and apprehending 



Kelion Franklin Pedtlicoi'd 109 

a flank movement, we slowly withdrew on the 
road to Albany. 

Two roads from beyond the gap led into 
town, and by using one of them we could be 
intercepted. Knowing this, it was thought 
wise to leave town ever night, and strike the 
road a mile beyond, which we did with the 
assistance of our guide. 

On reaching Wolf River at midnight we 
found its banks overflowed, which necessi- 
tated our swimming across with our horses. 
The same condition existed at Oby, and we 
did not arrive at camp until a little after day- 
light, when we at once reported all we knew 
to the Colonel, and then went to our head- 
quarters to rest, having been In our saddles 
nearly fifty hours. Much to the delight of 
the scouts, this was the last foray in the direc- 
tion of Monticello. 

Shortly after this occurrence the brigade 
had a very severe engagement with the same 
forces at Greasy Creek, near Monticello ; but 
we routed them and drove them across the 
country so rapidly that quite a number were 
drowned. 

The General soon after this moved his 
command down to Carthage, crossing the 
river above at Hardee's Ford. He quietly 



no Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

advanced on the town, which was garrisoned 
by a brigade, including infantry, cavalry, and 
artillery. With his plans for attack almost 
in readiness, the General would have issued 
orders for an assault had it not been for the 
instructions that reached him from General 
Bragg, ordering him to make his last great 
raid, which ended so unpleasantly. 

I should have first related that the brigade, 
under the command of Colonel Duke, before 
the fight at Greasy Creek, made a raid to 
Alexandria and Lebanon, via Statesville and 
Beards' Mills, with the intention of cutting 
Minty's cavalry brigade off from Murfrees- 
boro, forcing him to fight. But he would 
not stand, except to skirmish and retreat. 
Company B continued the pursuit until within 
their lines. It was afterward reported by a 
Yankee correspondent and published in the 
Louisville Journal, that Minty's cavalry had 
met and defeated John Morgan near Leb- 
anon, Tennessee, the article also telling of a 
"gallant sabre charge" the Yankees had 
made, and what they did not cut into pieces 
was run out of the country, etc. It was de- 
scribed in such glowing terms that on paper 
it seemed most terrific. What a pity it was 
false ! All the charges made with their 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord iii 

sabres on that day were not only few, but 
"very far between" them and us, they using 
their spurs to make it farther. 

When General Morgan withdrew his 
forces from Carthage to go to the south bank 
of the river he ordered each regiment to move 
by different roads in the direction of Burks- 
ville, where the command was to be concen- 
trated preparatory to the "gallop" , through 
Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. The "gay 
Fourteenth" marched via Liberty, McMinn- 
ville, Sparta, Cooksville, and Livingston, 
reaching the encampment near the river oppo- 
site Burksville on the last day of June, 1863. 

As soon as all the preparations necessary to 
a long march were made, such as issuing ra- 
tions and ammunition, and providing for the 
"lame, sick, and lazy," the crossing of the 
Cumberland was begun on the evening of the 
30th of June. The first and second com- 
panies — A and B — of the Fourteenth Ken- 
tucky succeeded in crossing, although the 
river could not be contained within the limits 
of its banks; but it was by a difficult swim. 
On gaining the north bank we were sent on an 
outpost that night. It was not much unlike 
the crossing of the Delaware in the years gone 
by, the difference being that "the Father of 



113 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

his Country" had to contend against large 
masses of floating ice, with his enemy in the 
rear, while the "horse thieves," upon their 
horses, and armed and equipped for fight, 
with the enemy in front, had to swim a bois- 
terous river, covered with large drifts of 
trees, a feat almost as difficult and far more 
dangerous than crossing a river in boats, amid 
the ice. 

On the evening of the second day of July 
our forces — twenty-two hundred strong — 
had safely, with two exceptions, reached the 
bank north of the river at three crossings near 
Burksville. The 'Fourteenth, meanwhile, 
had all crossed, and gone to the front in the 
direction of Glasgow, Kentucky. 

You will notice that so far I have, inten- 
tionally, omitted to mention the loss of men. 
Not that I do not remember, but because it 
would be a sorrowful task, and a subject too 
sacredly sad for me to handle, since many of 
them were my intimate friends and loved 
companions, and doubly endeared to me on 
my finding them in the same line of battle 
with myself. 

Early in the morning of the second we 
were withdrawn from the Glasgow road, and 
passed through Burksville on the road to 



Kelion Franklin Poddicord 113 

Columbia, taking charge of our front in that 
direction. As our column was passing 
through town General Morgan detained 
about twenty members of Company B for 
special duty. All of the members of the 
company were eager and anxious to go with 
their General, but he only had use for the 
twenty. Soon after the regiment left town, 
and the now "gay twenty," with the General 
in front, cantered out on the Glasgow road, 
on which the enemy had been found in force 
a few miles from the river, with the object 
of making a feint in our favor. 

Our true line of march was via Columbia, 
but we wished to make a diversion to im- 
press the Yankees with the belief that our 
march was to be via Glasgow. Going a few 
miles, we were met by a Yankee cavalry regi- 
ment, who changed front to rear immediately 
upon the sight of our scout, using their rowels 
with little mercy. Confusion and the twenty 
scouts were soon among them, and what the 
former did not do, the pistols of the latter 
accomplished. 

The actions of one of the boys strangely 
and particularly impressed me. A few days 
before the regiment that we were so hotly 
8 



114. Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

pressing had captured and killed this scout's 
brother. Learning this when pursuing, he 
was one of the first among them, firing right 
and left, oftentimes when his navy was 
against "his man," five of whom felt the 
effects, while the tears were streaming down 
his cheeks. I could not help thinking, "Ven- 
geance is mine, saith the Lord." 

When the enemy realized the smallness of 
the force that was chasing them, they halted 
in a strong position and showed fight; but 
our General, who seemed more like our gal- 
lant Captain of old than he had for some 
time, was too shrewd for them. Quickly de- 
taching a single scout around to their left 
flank secretly, with orders to fire his gun and 
navies in rapid succession into their line, 
proved, much to our amusement, to have the 
desired effect. Back they flew again, using 
their rowels as vigorously as before. But we 
were soon in their rear, making good use of 
time and pistols. Sabres were useless orna- 
ments in our service. The trooper that at- 
tempted to carry one would be forever after 
a laughing stock for the entire command. 

All of the twenty were ahead of the Gen- 
eral, who was on his favorite "Glencoe," with 
hat in hand, cheering the boys with "Charge 



Kclioii Franklin reddicord 115 

them, boys; charge them!" — and right hand- 
somely did they execute his orders. 

Yet, on flew the Yankees, and after them 
went the twenty, in a dense cloud of dust, 
never halting until we had chased the Yankee 
cavalry through a brigade of their own in- 
fantry then in line of battle and supported by 
artillery, which the immense cloud of dust 
prevented us from seeing. We charged 
them so near that they were afraid of open- 
ing on us for fear of doing injury to their 
own troops. 

One of the boys, riding near the General, 
saw the line first, and caught the reins of the 
General's horse, stopping him instantly. At 
the same moment a line of bristling bayonets 
were pointed out to the General. All saw it, 
and quickly wheeling our horses, with spurs 
in flanks, went out in true Indian style, lying 
flat on our horses, perhaps a little under. 

When we had cleared the line so they could 
open fire, and not fire into their own line, the 
whole line poured a volley at short range 
right into us. But "fortune," they say, 
"favors the brave." Only one man received 
a wound. Captain Tom of Company B, 
whose rein arm was broken, and who was 
afterward, much to his regret, left at Burks- 



n6 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

ville. With this exception we got back to 
town safely. 

At an early hour in the morning of the 3d, 
we were again in the saddle, en route to 
Columbia, Col. R. C. Morgan's regiment, 
the Fourteenth, in advance. This honor the 
General entrusted to our charge to be kept 
untarnished. How well the Fourteenth suc- 
ceeded had best be told by others than myself. 
My object is to tell you "some" of the events 
that occurred. 

The column passed up the same valley 
through which we marched the first of the 
year on our return after the Christmas raid, 
when a large number of horses disappeared, 
and the General promised the ladies that he 
would hang and shoot every one of his scouts, 
without a court martial, etc., for such un- 
courtly, ungallant, and unsoldierly actions 
toward "good Union people." It afforded 
the members of Company B much sport as 
they rode by these places of interest. 

Gaining the upland, the command halted 
long enough for the regimental commanders 
to read "special orders," which were to gov- 
ern the troops during the march. 

The advance moved on to Columbia about 
noon, where we found a squadron of the 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 117 

First Kentucky Yankee Cavalry in possession 
of the town. Driving their pickets in we ad- 
vanced to the edge of the town, where we 
rode into Hne and dismounted to fight. 

In a few moments we were closely engaged 
with the enemy, commanded by a Kentuckian, 
Captain Carter, aftei-ward killed or shot by 
a member of Company B. Carter fought 
his force well, being shielded by the houses; 
but as soon as he was wounded they retreated. 
He, with other wounded, fell in our hands. 
As only a brave man can do, he talked with 
the soldier who visited him a few minutes 
before he died, telling the Confederate that 
he was a gallant soldier and that he shot him 
in self-defense and while in the service of his 
country. The gallant Captain surely met his 
fate soldierly. 

Supplying our wants we left town and 
marched within two miles of Green River 
bridge (not the railroad bridge), which was 
defended by a regiment of Yankee infantry 
inside of a strong stockade. Placing our 
picket out, we encamped for the night. 

The next morning, the Fourth of July, by 
some error of the A. A. G., two regiments 
were put in advance of the Fourteenth, and 
by a further misconstiiiction of orders they 



n8 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

advanced against the stockade, which on this 
side of the river was impregnable, and there 
were obstacles of every description to impede 
a charge. Nevertheless, our troops hurled 
themselves against it with great gallantry and 
fought desperately until the General had them 
withdrawn. The troops were cut up badly, 
and many of our "best and bravest" fell in 
this engagement, among them being Colonel 
Shenault of the Seventh Kentucky, Major 
Brent of the Sixth, First Lieut. Chas. Kirtley 
of the Thirteenth Kentucky, commanding his 
company at the time, and many other gallant 
men and officers. 

I cannot say who was the author of this 
movement, which was not a skilful move cer- 
tainly, for we had to flank it finally to gain 
the pike beyond. By using our artillery on 
the opposite side they could have been shelled 
into submission, beyond reach of their rifles. 

The brigade halted to feed at Campbells- 
vllle. Mounting again at dark, we did not 
halt until in front of Lebanon, about three 
o'clock in the morning. At daylight we ad- 
vanced on the force garrisoning the town, 
which was the Twentieth Kentucky Yankee 
Infantry under Col. Chas. Hanson, a brother 
of the colonel of the Second Kentucky Li- 



Kelion Franklin Pcddicord 119 

fantry, afterward a general in our service, 
killed at Murfreesboro. 

The garrison, as we advanced into town, 
had posted themselves in brick houses, depot 
buildings, and churches. But forming our 
line in a circle enclosing the town we moved 
to the attack. A street fight is one of the 
most deperate modes of warfare known to a 
soldier. The advantage is strongly against 
the storming party. 

The Fourteenth charged mounted to within 
seventy-five yards of the railroad depot, and 
dismounted under the most deadly fire that 
we ever saw. The artillery took position on 
our right, opening on the depot in dead 
earnest. At every report the boys would 
cheer, the building tumbling at every dis- 
charge. Before the General commenced the 
assault he sent in a flag of truce to Colonel 
Hanson, demanding an immediate surrender; 
but if he would not consent, a limited time 
would be allowed to him to remove all non- 
combatants. He would not permit the in- 
habitants to leave, however, thinking they 
might prove to be a protection to his force, 
as we would probably not cannonade the town 
while the women and children remained. In 
that the Colonel was badly mistaken. His 



I20 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

troops numbered about six hundred, and all 
fought desperately to keep the boys out of the 
houses. But the cavalry would go up and in. 
Some of our troops would frequently run 
their guns and pistols through the windows 
and fire, while others would storm the doors 
and gain their entrance. 

The fight was raging terribly when Thos. 
H. Morgan, first lieutenant of Company I, 
Duke's regiment, a brother of the General, 
while acting aide-de-camp and gallantly bear- 
ing orders, was shot through the head, caus- 
ing his instant death. This happened in 
sight of the General, who became so enraged 
at such inhuman fighting that he sent his aides 
flying with orders to burn and destroy, which 
soon brought our brutal foe to a sense of 
feeling. 

The whole town was quickly in a blaze and 
getting disagreeably hot. The engagement 
had lasted from morning until noon, and but 
for the burning would have lasted longer, at 
a great sacrifice of life. The white flag ap- 
peared in many places at the same time. 
Before it was discovered or acknowledged 
they were nearly "rare done." Everything 
but hot stoves suffered that day. The troop- 
ers, not without cause, were much enraged, 



Kelion Frankliu Pcddicord 121 

and they could scarely be controlled by their 
officers. 

During the taking of Lebanon two Yankee 
regiments were within two miles of the town, 
but would not and did not come to the rescue. 
The officer in command was afterward re- 
lieved for his timid and cowardly action. It 
was proven that he was half a day marching 
seven miles. 

When the General was ready to march he 
privately detached a piece of artillery out of 
town, in charge of an officer, with instructions 
to shell the town. The order to mount had 
been given, but the boys fell slowly into line. 
However, the explosion of the first shell was 
sufficient to place all in line, ready for march- 
ing, as the General expected. 

We moved out on the Springfield road, ar- 
riving at that place before night, with the 
prisoners, who were paroled. The advance 
halted to feed six miles beyond the town, on 
the road to Bardstown. The brigade stopped 
nearer the town. One of the officers of Com- 
pany B was killed at Lebanon, another cap- 
tured while en route to Bardstown the night 
we left Springfield, so that when the advance 
reached Bardstown I was the only officer in 
Company B, in which there were seventy-five 



123 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

men, which kept me pretty active during the 
trip. 

The night's march to Bardstown was one 
of the darkest we ever experienced. It was 
impossible to see even your fellow-soldier in 
the same set riding by your side. We halted 
near but not in sight of the city, and con- 
ferred with Captain Sheldon of Company C, 
Second Kentucky Cavalry, who had been the 
morning previous detached on a scouting ex- 
pedition in the vicinity of Bardstown. 

After meeting and skirmishing with, chas- 
ing, and being chased by a detachment of the 
regular Yankee cavalry, he had eluded and 
followed them, without their knowledge, into 
town, where, finding them quartered in a 
livery stable, he formed his line around, and 
barricaded the streets and alleys so strongly 
and successfully that they could not get out 
except at great sacrifice. Under Captain Shel- 
don's guidance Colonel Morgan dismounted 
his regiment to go to the relief of Company 
C, supporting him until morning, when an 
immediate surrender was asked. The Major 
commanding, however, refused to comply. 

The brigade having arrived about daylight, 
a piece of ordnance was brought to bear upon 
the stable, the "expression" of which ap- 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 123 

peared so ferocious that the Major submitted 
and hung out his white flag without further 
hesitation. The Major, a lieutenant, and 
fifty men surrendered, with as many horses, 
splendidly equipped. 

Feeding and breakfasting, we were soon 
moving for the "Lew" and Nashville Rail- 
road south of Shepherdstown, and not more 
than twenty miles distant from Louisville, 
The head of the column reached the railroad 
about the hour that the evening passenger 
train north was due. The General, who was 
riding with the advance, sent Company A of 
the Fourteenth to the road on our left to ob- 
struct the cars after they passed. Company 
B was ordered to intercept them in front. 

We had just arrived at the crossing when 
the train hove In sight. Quick as thought 
the General had one of Burns's field pieces 
upon the track, and sent its contents booming 
down the track, checking the train, and almost 
Instantly the engineer commenced reversing 
his engine. But Company B, which was 
rapidly advancing, put a stop to its wild 
career. The guard on the train, consisting 
of thirty or forty Infantry, contested their 
ground stubbornly. Getting out on the op- 
posite side from us, they used the train for 



124 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 



breastworks. But, to use a soldier's term, 
"we went for them," dislodging and driving 
them into the woods. 

After ordering the driver to move his en- 
gine up to the crossing, Company B, already 
formed, escorted her to the General's 
presence. 

Her passengers were principally Yankee 
officers, field and staff, from whom I fell heir 
to several useful articles — without their con- 
sent, I imagine, if their faces were a true 
index to rheir feelings. Nor could I blame 
them much, for the cavalry boots, No. 6, 
were splendid, the navies handsome, and the 
swords and rigging rich and beautiful. 
Besides all of these, the boys appropriated 
some valuable property, such as gold and 
silver watches, meerschaum pipes, greenbacks 
and specie, etc. The U. S. mail numbered 
over a hundred sacks, which were turned over 
to the brigade A. Q. M., with the exception 
of a few sacks the boys reserved for their 
own use. The General let all the passengers 
retain their effects, save the military, and 
without injury, and ordered the train to re- 
turn to Elizabethtown. 

Burning a stockade and bridge, we con- 
tinued our march until three o'clock and then 



Kelioii Franklin Peddicord 125 

encamped until morning. Late as it was, 
the boys built small fires to open and examine 
their mail by. 

Hardly a moment elapsed, "day or dream- 
ing night," but what we were capturing the 
enemy's forces, sometimes in small and often 
in large numbers. At daylight on the morn- 
ing of the 7th we were found in the saddle 
en route to Brandenburg on the Ohio River, 
and forty or fifty miles below Louisville, 
Kentucky. 

The advance, after a few exciting adven- 
tures, marched into the above place just after 
dark, and found two steamers lying at the 
wharf, which Capt. Sam. B. Taylor, of the 
Tenth, who had been sent on that service 
early in the day, had captured without much 
difficulty. The steamboat Alice Dean was 
taken while lying at the landing, and soon 
afterward the steamboat General Combs ap- 
peared in view, coming up the river. Cap- 
tain Taylor, commanding the Alice Dean, 
went out to meet and escort the General into 
the wharf, very much to the astonishment of 
the captain and the passengers. 

I could mention, and yet it will be omitted, 
much that happened during the night and the 
next morning, or rather the next day, which 



126 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

was spent crossing over "Jordan" into the 
"Promised Land." 

Upon our arrival we dismounted to form 
line on the beach until the brigade came up. 
We then returned to our horses to feed them 
and to steal a little nod, if such were possible. 
Some of the boys gave champagne parties 
that night in the meadow, which doubtless 
was taken from the stores of one of the 
steamers; as also were a few other luxuries 
that had so mysteriously come into their pos- 
session. After satisfying their unnatural ap- 
petites all took a sly snooze, dreaming of 
home and of the fair fields beyond the waters. 

Tired nature must have its requisite amount 
of rest; it may be overtaxed for a long time, 
but sooner or later exhaustion will come, 
when the body, in spite of all we can do other- 
wise, will repose. Many have been the times 
when I would have given worlds, if I pos- 
sessed them, to lie down in a fence corner 
with permission to sleep a few hours. But 
the enemy was in front, and the watchword 
was "forward, march." After crossing the 
Ohio we never halted except to feed, to fight, 
and to destroy U. S. property. 

Our balmy slumbers were very easily dis- 
turbed by an explosion of a shell in our midst, 



Kelion Franklin Pcddicord 127 

thrown from a piece on the Hoosier State 
side. Burns's batter)' returned the fire, and 
at the second shot dismounted the Yankee 
gun, a splendid rifled cannon, that afterward 
fell into our possession. 

It occupied the entire day of the 8th to 
effect the crossing, there being many interrup- 
tions. Four or five gun-boats tried hard to 
intercept us, but our rifle field-pieces of longer 
range kept them at arm's length, and finally 
compelled them to take shelter behind a point 
in the river. 

Several U. S. transports, loaded with 
troops, had accompanied the gun-boats down 
from Louisville, and partly disembarked 
them on the Indiana side. But Duke's and 
Ward's regiments, who had first crossed, were 
on hand to receive them, and drove them pell 
mell on the boats again, which steamed up the 
river hurriedly beyond their reach. The 
General Combs and Alice Dean ferried all 
over safely by sunset. One of them, the 
latter I think, was a U. S. transport. She 
was set on fire and burnt up. A poor reward 
for her gallant and faithful service. The 
General Combs, being private property, was 
liberated with many thanks for her efl^cient 
services. 



128 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

The command that night, which was In- 
tensely dark, marched on Corydon. We ap- 
peared before Corydon early in the morning 
of the 9th. The advance, then in command 
of Captain Hines, moved upon the enemy in 
front, met their outpost, a company of cav- 
alry, and on exchanging a few shots drove 
them back into town. Hines' company was 
the first and Company B the next in order 
for that day's march; therefore, when his 
company engaged the enemy. Company B 
supported him. Regiments when marching 
have it so arranged that each company has 
its respective days for marching at the head 
of the column, it being easier to march at the 
front than at the rear of a column, and thus 
they change alternately. 

While the advance was passing a farm- 
house the proprietor was suddenly seized with 
a patriotic feeling, and taking down his old 
fusee deliberately fired into our line, killing 
one of Hines's men. This enraged the boys, 
and one of them, who had been riding by the 
side of the one killed, threw himself from his 
horse, cleared the enclosure at a bound, and 
with a chunk of fire from out of the house, set 
it on fire, leaving the patriotic gentleman In 
the second story to take care of himself. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 129 

I know you have heard many wonderful 
stories about our burning private property on 
that raid. If any other than this house was 
burnt, I am not aware of it. All other prop- 
erty that I saw burning was U. S. Govern- 
ment property, and that we considered our 
sacred duty to destroy whenever and wher- 
ever we found it, especially if we did not have 
transportation for it. 

When almost in sight of town we turned 
off of the main approach upon a side road, 
leading to the right and the rear of the town, 
with the intention of flanking and getting in 
the enemy's rear, while the brigade assaulted 
in front. 

We had not proceeded more than one-half 
mile when we noticed three women standing 
in a yard in front of a house, crying bitterly 
and wringing their hands as though their 
hearts would break. The column passed 
silently and respectfully, but the silence lasted 
only until they had passed the house, then you 
might have heard them saying to each other, 
"Look out, boys, the Yankees are near," and 
soon all were closely inspecting their arms, 
capping their Enfields, and arranging navies 
so as to be speedily handled. Those women, 
9 



/ 



I go Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

by their tears, informed us in a simple, but 
reliable, way that the enemy was close by. 
Soldiers do not know a truer sign. Anticipa- 
tion of a battle and the anxiety concerning the 
safety of some loved one caused those tears 
to flow. This we well knew by actual ex- 
perience and observation. 

So it happened. We had gone scarce two 
hundred yards before our line received a 
terrific and well directed volley from nearly 
three hundred stands of arms, wounding and 
killing twelve of our column. 

In an instant the line was dismounted, and 
forwarding quickly into a line of battle 
charged them with a yell and with great de- 
termination, driving them with no little loss 
from their ambuscade, with little loss to our- 
selves. 

While pursuing them hotly, to within a 
short distance of the road in the rear of the 
town, our foe unexpectedly ran into the Third 
Kentucky, who had flanked the town on the 
left, and to them they surrendered without 
conditions. But un«:il the white flag was 
hoisted we never ceased firing, neither could 
the Third resist the temptation of giving a 
broadside to bring them to a stand. The 
prisoners were taken Into town by the Third. 



Kelioii Franklin I'ccldicord 131 

We advanced out the Albany road, and it 
was not long before we discovered a squad of 
Yankees, although we remained unnoticed by 
them. Company B received orders to attack 
them. By advancing to the brow of the hill 
we concealed ourselves behind a fence until 
the enemy ascended quite near, then rising 
and firing my navy, that being the signal for 
B to open fire, we poured such a hot fire into 
them that it caused a stampede unrivaled in 
war, which I shall never forget if I should 
live for a thousand years. I will wager that 
"Harrison County Home Guards" can beat 
the world running, get them frightened or 
panic stricken. 

Mounting our horses again we marched till 
we arrived at the forks of the road, four miles 
from town, where Hines concealed his force, 
except Company B, in an orchard behind a 
thick hedge. He then ordered my company 
to take post in a large log stable, immediately 
within the fork, with instructions to invite all 
passersby in, as they arrived. 

Upon concealing my men I took position 
alongside of the road, and as the Yankees 
came by in twos, fours, and up to companies, 
hurrying to Coi^don to reinforce Colonel 
Jordan, the commandant, I would step out. 



132 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

as a representative of the "Home Guards," 
and take them in charge, or rather in the 
stable, disarm them gently, and send them 
under guard to Captain Hines. 

This deception was successfully carried on 
till the faring in town had ceased, when we 
started to the town with over one hundred 
prisoners, which, as we confidently supposed, 
was in the possession of our men. Turning 
our prisoners over to the provost guard, who 
had nearly seven hundred to parole, we were 
soon on the road to Salem, Colonel Dick com- 
manding. 

As we advanced every mile had to be 
strongly contested for. Militia, home 
guards, and regular troops were on every hill 
top, bushwhackers and armed citizens behind 
every tree, and hardly a moment elapsed but 
you could hear the Minie's sharp report. 
Everything was in an uproar. Families de- 
serted their dwellings to hide in the woods. 
Yet nothing stopped us. On we galloped, 
driving all obstructions from our front, enter- 
ing the town of Salem some time before night, 
and capturing nearly five hundred regular 
soldiers, mihtia, home guards, bushwhackers, 
and fighting citizens. It would be difficult to 
say which was best represented. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 133 

When the men had been supplied with a 
variety of necessaries, such as boots, hats, etc., 
the advance left Salem, the county-seat of 
Washington County, and moved out on the 
road to Lexington, the county-seat of Scott 
County. We stopped at a little village, four 
miles from Salem, to feed and rest our 
wearied horses, and to get something re- 
freshing for ourselves. The main force 
halted long enough in Salem to feed, and de- 
stroy all military supplies, together with the 
large depot buildings. 

During our stay Jn the little burg some of 
the boys went into a Dutch shoe shop and pur- 
chased a number of pairs of home-made boots, 
paying for them in Confederate funds. 
While a portion were buying, others were 
securing suitable pairs without the Dutch 
woman's knowledge, who was the acting sales- 
woman. She at last detected them in the act 
of shoplifting, and such a cry arose as never 
was heard before — the most distressing and 
heartbreaking cries that mortal ever gave 
vent to. Our commander, on hearing the 
uproar, and thinking a murder was being com- 
mitted, came double-quick to the scene of 
action to ascertain the cause of the sudden 
alarm. On his learning what the difficulty 



134 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

was he attempted to pacify the Dutch woman 
by settling the amount in current funds. But 
with no success. She would not listen to any- 
thing; she was "forever ruined." It was one 
of the most laughable scenes associated with 
the raid, and one the actors will long re- 
member. 

As soon as our steeds were a little re- 
freshed we mounted and pressed on to Lex- 
ington, followed closely by the brigade. As 
we moved forward there was nothing but a 
succession of charges It seemed the entire 
population was in arms, behind every bush the 
enemy was to be found. Shots flew thick and 
fast. Dogs howled, horses neighed, cattle 
lowed, and every living creature was sending 
forth some distressful and pitiful noise. 

Still on we galloped, very often hotly 
chasing detachments of the enemy and riding 
them down without a sigh of regret. When 
within seven or eight miles of the Jefferson- 
ville and Indianapolis Railroad we com- 
menced descending from the hills into the 
valley, meeting parties of from ten to fifty 
citizens with axes on their way to the high- 
lands to obstruct our line of march by block- 
ading the road with trees. Such orders had 
been telegraphed to them by Governor Mor- 



Kelioii Franklin Peddicord 135 

ton, which news "Lightning" had previously 
intercepted, and was one reason for our rapid 
marching. The poor citizens suffered that 
day in mind, and also, I expect, in pocket, 
their new axes being sadly treated, so much 
so that I doubt if they ever found the edge 
again. We got the edge off them without 
any difficulty. 

Company B formed the head of the column 
on this day, and when within six miles of the 
railroad was detached with orders to hasten 
to Vienna. Putting spurs to our steeds we 
passed the videttes at a brisk canter. En 
route we met several parties of wood chop- 
pers, hurrying to the blockading-ground. 

Passing Company B off as Washington 
County Home Guards, we urged them for- 
ward by telling them that Morgan had passed 
through Salem. In a very few moments we 
had charged into Vienna, accompanied by our 
operator. We found all the inhabitants in 
the streets at two hundred yards distance. 
This looked suspicious, for many of them 
were in Yankee uniforms, which signified to 
us that it was a solid line of battle. But this 
was no time to hesitate. Our instructions 
were to take the town, and into town we went, 
pell mell, feeling vei7 much like a man who 



136 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

expected to be shot at; but we were agreeably 
disappointed, as it happened. There were 
many soldiers, but all unarmed. 

The women were soon crying, begging, and 
imploring us to spare their children. The 
boys heard this with amazement, and asked 
the women if they thought we were bar- 
barians that they should think we could hurt 
women and children. The men assured them 
that not a hair of their heads would be in- 
jured, nor would they wound their feelings in 
any way. Quieting them as best we could, 
we ordered all in their houses excepting the 
men. These a sergeant with a guard took 
charge of. 

Another sergeant was sent after the U. S. 
operator, who was found at the house by the 
side of his Dulcinea, little dreaming that 
Morgan's men had possession of his office. 
When Sergeant T. inquired for him he arose, 
saying he was the gentleman asked for. The 
sergeant informed him that he had business 
for him to attend to in his office. On their 
walk down to the depot he eyed the sergeant 
closely. The sergeant noticed this, and asked 
him if he did not think he knew him. He 
replied, "I am not sure, but I think you are 
one of Morgan's men." 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 137 

He was quite certain of that fact a little 
later, after he had been turned over to "Rebel 
Lightning," who had some trouble in getting 
the necessary signal known to the operators. 
But on seeing a navy pistol presented he was 
more communicative. 

On "Lightning" receiving the necessary 
news a courier was dispatched post haste to 
the General, and soon after another. The 
track was also destroyed on both sides of the 
town, and when the General arrived all orders 
had been executed, destroying what U. S. 
stores had been found there, and burning the 
depot and railroad bridges. 

The command moved on to Lexington that 
night, where, arriving about midnight, we fed 
and rested until moining. The "home pro- 
tection" stationed there left on our approach. 

At an early hour the next morning several 
companies of the enemy's forces marched into 
town, without knowing who was there. 
None of our troops was In the town at the 
time, but General Morgan, with a small body- 
guard, the rest of his men being encamped 
near by feeding. Both parties were struck 
with surprise, and for some moments all was 
confusion. However, the General did not 



138 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

long hesitate before he sent a courier to us to 
come to his assistance. 

Mounting our horses we soon galloped to 
his relief, though too late to have a tilt with 
the Northmen, for before we could report 
they had suddenly disappeared. With such 
an opportunity, what simpletons they were not 
to attempt a capture and perhaps be able to 
carry off our General. Had they been men 
of nerve they might have accomplished that 
which would have secured them a brilliant 
place in Yankee history. Yet they lacked the 
pluck. 

Receiving our instructions the Fourteenth 
moved off in the direction of Vernon, the 
county-seat of Jennings County, through 
which runs the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, 
and also a railroad running from Columbus, 
a point on the Jeffersonville and Indianapolis 
Railroad, to Madison on the Ohio. 

Vernon was reached in the afternoon, 
where a large force had collected. We 
deeply impressed them with the idea that we 
Intended to give them battle, but this was 
only done to draw their attention from cer- 
tain military supplies, railroad and railroad 
bridges, the depot, etc., that we designed de- 
stroying. 



Kclioii Franklin Peddicord 139 

We then continued our march to Versailles, 
making sad havoc with all railroads and 
public property, and at the same time our 
detachments were operating on each flank, by 
which the Yankees were deceived as to our 
whereabouts, reporting us very often at as 
many as twenty towns almost at once. 
When we reached Versailles the inhabitants 
made a grand mistake in taking us for Federal 
soldiers, and not until we were leaving did 
they learn that we were Rebels. One old 
lady declared she knew it, had known it all 
the time. But I am afraid not. If I am to be 
guided by her actions and from the bountiful 
way she provided our men with such a variety 
of nice edibles. 

One mile from town a force in ambush 
fired on the advance, and then ran, we after 
them full-tilt, giving them fits every jump 
until the road was entirely clear. 

The many towns bet^veen Versailles and 
Hamilton, Ohio, could not be mentioned 
under several pages, and besides I cannot call 
them all to mind. Yet I do remember that 
every town, day, and hour had its stirring 
adventures. The command was almost worn 
out, and dead for want of sleep and rest. 
Yet on and on we marched. Soon Hamilton, 



140 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

Big Miami River, the canal and railroad were 
in sight, and while descending the hill a mag- 
nificent view was before us. The valley 
beyond possessed a great variety of beautiful 
scenery; the town itself was very handsome 
and beautiful; and the canal, river, and rail- 
road gave the finishing touch to as grand a 
picture as nature affords. We remained but 
a short time in Hamilton, yet long enough to 
exchange some of our wearied horses for some 
fresher ones. Then passing through we 
halted to feed beyond the city limits. 

Soon the column was moving, and during 
the night's march passed within seven miles 
of the Queen City, where a detachment, pre- 
viously instructed, drove their outpost in, 
causing unbounded excitement in "Pork- 
opolis." It was without doubt the darkest 
of all nights. The troops were almost ex- 
hausted for want of sleep. Many of them 
during the night, while asleep, wandered off 
on some of the many side roads, notwith- 
standing the officers' vigilance to keep all 
awake by riding from the head of their com- 
panies to the rear and back again, and con- 
stantly urging them, if they loved their coun- 
try's cause, to keep each other awake. 
Oftentimes I have seen on that raid both man 



Kclion Franklin Peddicord 141 

and horse nodding together, and at such times 
the horse staggering like one intoxicated. 
The Little Miami and railroad to Columbus 
were crossed before the day appeared. 

During the next day Camp Dennison was 
threatened but not attacked. Several hun- 
dred wagons were found near by and burnt, 
as well as a large quantity of other stores. 
With the advance Company B was again the 
first, and early in the morning was detached 
to cut the railroad. 

On reaching the scene of operations a de- 
tail was advanced toward Dennison, who met 
the enemy's outpost near a bridge, and, after 
a sharp and well-fought skirmish, drove the 
Yankees away, capturing several of their 
horses fully equipped. 

We had scarcely time to put two large ties 
into a cattle gap like the letter X and to cut 
the telegraph wire, before we saw a train of 
passenger cars coming like a whirlwind 
around a curve. They certainly had seen 
our main column and were trying to get away. 
At the first intimation of her approach we 
disappeared into a cornfield immediately 
alongside. The train shot past like a blazing 
meteor, and the next thing we saw was a 
dense cloud of steam above which flew large 



142 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

timbers. Our next sight startled our nerves, 
for there lay the monster floundering in the 
field like a fish out of water, with nothing but 
the tender attached. Her coupling must 
have broken, for the passenger carriages and 
express were still on the track, several yards 
ahead. Over three hundred raw recruits 
were on board, bound for Camp Dennison. 
They came tumbling and rolling out in every 
way imaginable. 

Company B was In line ready for action, 
when we discovered they were unarmed, ex- 
cept for a few having side-arms. All sub- 
mitted without a single shot, and were sent 
under guard to the General. 

Examining and closely inspecting the prize, 
orders were received to set her on fire. Just 
before leaving a locomotive came down from 
Dennison to see what had caused the train's 
delay; but when the engineer discovered our 
men galloping to his rear to intercept his re- 
treat, he put his engine back at her utmost 
speed and escaped capture. 

There were but two persons hurt at the 
above break up, and they were the engineer 
and the fireman. The former was a little 
scalded and the latter had a bone fractured. 
Permission was given to several of his friends 



Kcliou Franklin Pcddicord 143 

to carry him to the nearest house and liberty 
granted them to take care of him. 

Soon we were again at the head of the ad- 
vance, after an hour's absence, perhaps. Our 
main force passed to the left of Georgetown 
several miles, but the advance, according to 
instructions, made a flank march and went 
to the county-seat of Brown Count)^ where 
we halted to dine, feed, and see the "Lion." 
We overtook the command at ten o'clock that 
night and took our position in front. 

The next day we crossed the canal leading 
from Portsmouth to Cleveland, and the 
Scioto River, marching through Jackson 
about midday, dispersing a large force of 
Ohio militia who were guarding the railroad 
to Ironton and burning depot buildings, rail- 
road and other property belonging to the so- 
called "Uncle Sam." 

At four in the evening we entered the town 
of Chester in Meigs County, after great dif- 
ficulty. Every bridge had been destroyed 
in our front, and at every pass and ravine the 
road was blockaded and defended by troops 
in concealment, but we never failed to dis- 
lodge and drive them confusedly away. A 
large number of "blockaders" were captured 
and, accompanied by a guard, were compelled 



144 Kelion Franklin Peddicoi*d 

to clear away the obstructions that many of 
them had assisted In making. Poor fellows, 
they felt their time had come, so badly were 
they frightened. They would no more halt 
when we were after them than they could fly. 
Oftentimes the boys would dismount and go 
in pursuit of these bushwhackers and com- 
mand them to halt, but on they ran, like 
some one that had escaped from the deaf and 
dumb asylum, never stopping until the boys 
laid violent hands upon them, holding them 
fast by main force. Even then they would 
strive hard to get away, just as some wild 
animals would do. At times It was difficult 
to keep the boys from shooting them down 
for such actions. 

Halting In Chester for the arrival of the 
General and forces, we had a delightful time, 
certain delicacies having been prepared by the 
ladies for their gallant and patriotic defend- 
ers. 

On General Morgan's arrival we moved 
on to the river at a double quick, never rein- 
ing our horses until dark, and then we were 
on the bank of the Ohio. We soon captured 
the picket of the forces guarding the ford, 
which consisted of three hundred militia 
from Marietta, with three field-pieces, and 



Kelion Fraiiklin Peddicord 145 

though strongly entrenched they left the coun- 
try as soon as they heard of our arrival, leav- 
ing their guns in our charge. 

Our brigade and artillery did not come up 
until midnight. It was then extremely dark 
and foggy, and knowing that we undoubtedly 
would have to swim a part of the way, at 
least, across the river, and that it would be 
extremely difficult to get our battery over 
it, it was thought advisable to delay until 
daylight and fair play. I am now confident 
that had we attempted it very many of our 
men would have been drowned. Every one 
was broken down with fatigue, and thus the 
delay. 

Twice during the night I was ordered with 
twenty of Company B to cross the river in 
search of flatboats, but failed to secure any. 
If we had not been under orders, how easily 
we could have escaped the coming disaster, 
and yet we never suspected that such would 
be our fate. 

When daylight appeared couriers from 
every part of the field were seen flying to 
headquarters. One reported that the rear 
was attacked, the next our right, and another, 
our left, and soon the engagement was gen- 



146 Kelion Franklin Pecldicoid 

eral and hotly contested. Duke, with two 
regiments, drove General Judah's forces 
back, but being struck in the flank by another 
force, he retreated. The enemy, so much 
our superior in numbers, we being reduced to 
not more than fifteen hundred, if that, had all 
the advantages, assisted by small gun-boats 
that had succeeded in getting above the shoals 
by a rise in the river. Several Yankee offi- 
cers informed me afterward that over sixty 
thousand regular troops, not mentioning 
militia, home guards, bushwhackers, and 
armed citizens, were opposed to us on that 
day. However, until noon, we lost little of 
our position ; but it was very evident that we 
would have to yield finally, or run for it. 

Seeing this, the General knew he would 
have to sacrifice a part of his force to save 
the other. While a portion was holding the 
Yankees in check, under a terrible fire of shot 
and shell, our General made his escape up 
the river with the remainder. And for the 
first time a white flag, the sign of surrender, 
was seen in charge of an officer going to the 
enemy's lines. 

On sight of the flag the old scouts begged 
me to lead them out; but this I could not do, 
except by the permission of my superior offi- 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 147 

cer, and when I asked the Colonel he refused 
me that liberty, saying it would be impossible 
or at a great sacrifice of men. I replied on 
behalf of the scouts that all were ready and 
willing to run that risk, particularly when 
imprisonment with all its horrors was staring 
us in the face. Still, the Colonel would not 
consent. Had we attempted without his will, 
and succeeded in cutting our way out, and he 
been captured, it would have been called a 
glorious deed. On the other hand, if he had, 
through some mysterious way, been extri- 
cated, our leaving without orders of our su- 
perior would have been branded as desertion. 
But the fight was over, and we prisoners of 
war. 

I will not continue my sketch further. You 
are well posted as to events which have trans- 
pired since the 19th day of July, 1863, the 
day of our capture. I have written only a 
very limited account of what happened, and 
in a humble way; but if it pleases as well as 
interests her for whom it was designed, I will 
be richly and amply rewarded for this feeble 
struggle. 

I will say in conclusion, my dear sister, that 
this unadorned outline was written and in- 
tended for your eyes alone, free from com- 



1^8 Kelion Fraiiklin Peddicord 

ment, for the memory of comrades gone Is 
sacredly dear. 

Very affectionately yours, 

Frank. 

N. B. — Not being with General Morgan 
after the 19th of July, it would be impossible 
to relate his further adventures. 

Frank. 

Completed December 23rd, 1865, 

expressly 

for a 

Christmas Present. 



CHAPTER III 



PRISON LIFE 



We continue the story of K. F. Peddicord's 
life from memoranda written by him at in- 
tervals, and think it proper to introduce some 
letters written by him while in prison after 
the Ohio raid. 

After the capture the prisoners were taken 
by boats to Cincinnati, Ohio. While march- 
ing through the streets of the city en route to 
prison, guarded on all sides by policemen on 
foot, pohcemen mounted, and infantry, ar- 
tillery and cavalry flankers, one of the boys 
quietly stepped out in the dense crowd. Hav- 
ing citizen's dress he escaped notice, and to 
make matters more secure he walked forward 
and spoke to one of his company, with, 
"Hello, Jim! Where was you captured?" 
Jim understood the situation. The guard or- 
dered, "Stand back there!" and their friend 
fell back into the multitude and proudly went 
to liberty again. On went the column to the 
Female Prison, where they were confined 
four days. The prisoners were then moved 



I50 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

to Johnson's Island, where they were kept 
eight days. Soon after this the field and 
staff officers (68) were put in the penitentiary 
at Columbus, Ohio, and the line officers 
(119) were taken to Allegheny City and put 
in the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, 
where they remained eight months. The 
men were sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, 
Illinois. 

The next move in the spring of 1864 was 
to Point Lookout, Mai7land, via Baltimore 
and Chesapeake Bay. One of the prisoners, 
Lawrence Peyton, was killed there in a most 
cowardly manner by Sergeant Young of the 
Sixth New Hampshire. 

From Point Lookout the prisoners were 
taken by ocean steamer to Fort Delaware, lo- 
cated on Pea Patch Island in Delaware Bay, 
where they were confined until June, 1865. 
The following letters are of interest in this 
connection : 

"Division 27, Officers' Barracks, 
"Fort Delaware, Del., December 7, 1864. 
"My dearest Sister Lily: 

"Again was I made glad, this evening, 
upon the receipt of your kind letter of the 



Keliou Franklin Peddicord 151 

I St. Having postponed several days in hopes 
of getting a letter before writing, at last I was 
successful, and the realization has made me 
again cheerful. For, to tell you the truth, I 
was quite sad. There is nothing so depress- 
ing to one's spirits as the absence or non- 
arrival of letters from one's friends, which 
you will please bear in mind. 

"But what added most to my discomfort 
was not hearing from , for in his let- 
ter of the 14th of November he wrote me 
that he would send m.e a check soon. I an- 
swered immediately upon receipt, it being the 
19th, but have received no answer or check, 
although I have not yet given up all hopes. 
With a little assistance of that kind, now and 
then, we expect to live through the winter, 
and without it it would indeed be hard living, 
as prisoner's fare is not very flattering. 

"I have several times been reduced to that 
predicament. This has been the case particu- 
larly for the last three or four weeks, since 
I preferred to pay a few small debts with the 
five dollars you sent, rather than purchase 
what I really needed. I miss my coffee most, 
and therefore I am often hungry, and when 
once hungry, without some assistance you will 
always be so, when restricted to a certain 



152 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

amount of rations. But enough of this; 
neither space nor rectrictions will permit me 
to say more. I am trusting something may 
be done. 

"Write soon and often, and tell me some- 
thing of Mummy now and then. Glad to 
find your last letter some longer, but you can 
still do much better. Love to all. 
"I am, my dear sister, 

"Truly your affectionate brother, 

"K. F. Peddicord.'^ 

"Officers' Quarters, Division 27, 
"Fort Delaware, Del., December 25, 1864. 

"(A ring inclosed.) 
"Dear Sister India : 

"Your kind letter of the i8th came gliding 
Into my sad and lonely quarters last evening, 
with a mild and gentle sympathy that steals 
away their sadness and loneliness ere I am 
aware. A retrospect of bygone brings to 
mind, this morning, many pleasing incidents 
which cause me for a time to forget my pres- 
ent situation. While musing o'er those 
happy days I can but sigh and say, 'Would I 
were a boy again!' 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 153 

"Could our friends have been silent spec- 
tators last evening they would doubtless have 
been surprised and much amused at our en- 
tertainment in this division. We cleaned up 
and dressed up early, and at 6 o'clock two 
sets of boys, in their best — to represent 'la- 
dies,' hats off — or a nice smoking-cap on to 
designate them, were tripping lively steps to 
the music of two violins. After dancing, we 
had songs, and all wound up before 'lights 
out' (9 o'clock) with a rat supper. For if 
you must know, there are many here who 
eat them whenever they can get them, and 
that is frequently. 

"While the ball was going on in this 
(Kentucky) division, prayer-meeting was on 
in the next. Thus it goes in life. I did not 
dance; there is no poetry to me in dancing 
with a man. I thought, while looking on, if 
the girls could see us, they would say, 'Well, 
those boys have learned to live without us. 
They do their own washing, cooking, sewing 
and dancing.' 

"I wrote to you on the 20th, in answer to 
yours containing ten dollars, I also wrote 
you the 23d, and enclosed a ring, which, if 
received, — and I have my doubts, — take an 
old toothbrush, soap and water, and clean 



154 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

it, then rub it with buckskin. I send in this 
the plain one, just finished; it will not quite 
go on my third finger. I thought that too 
large. If it doesn't suit you, I'll make an- 
other. A friend gave me the one I sent you 
on the 23d. It is beautiful, I think. Don't 
you think so? 

"Remember me to friends. Love to all. 
Write me often and longer. The weather 
looks charming to-day, but not like Christ- 
mas of old. 

"With much love, 

"Your affectionate brother, 

"K. F. Peddicord.^' 

"Officers' Barracks, Division 27, 
"Fort Delaware, 4th January, 1865. 
"Dear Sister: 

"Glad to acknowledge receipt of your kind 
letter of the 26th (the answer to mine of 
1 6th), but better pleased to find enclosed 
five dollars ($5). However, that expression 
conveys but a feeble idea of my feelings and 
of the heartfelt thanks to you for your sis- 
terly kindness and attention. It put new life 
into me. I trust that my three or four letters 
subsequent to the i6th have all safely reached 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 155 

you, together with two rings enclosed at dif- 
ferent times, and I also hope with the rings 
you are well pleased. Give one to Sam. If 
they are not what you wanted, tell me, and 
I'll try again. I sent Cousin Bell one for a 
Christmas gift. 

"I received yesterday per express a box 
containing pair of pants, shoes, 2 pairs of 
socks, hair brush, looking-glass, handkerchief, 
twelve sheets of letter paper, package of en- 
velopes, small blank book and pencil, soap, 
two books, — 'India' and 'Prince Regent,' — 
two towels, all of which I am much pleased 
with. Had the flannel shirts been put in they 
would have done more good than shoes. 
I have just had my boots half-soled, and I 
think they will nearly last me this winter. 

"When I went outside to get the package 
I did not bring the slioes, for the custom Is to 
exchange your old clothes for the new ones. 
Therefore, I did not trade my boots off, 
though they are old and they are the best for 
winter and such snow as we have now. I re- 
ceived a letter dated 26th from Lily yester- 
day, as quite well, and had received a letter 
from you, then safe at P . I also re- 
ceived one from home of the 21st, written by 
Jennie. All well. Jennie was about going 



156 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

to Tennessee. I received one from M , 

same date, and very sweet, written a few 
moments after kissing my mother's eldest, 
who was never better. The rogue read my 
last and sent his love, etc. Give my best to 
all kind friends. 

"With much love to Sam, Ernest, Minnie, 
and your dearest self, I am 
"Yours indeed, 

"K. F. Peddicord. 

"I am well, but at this moment very cold 
from writing. Write often and longer. 

"Frank.'' 

"Fort Delaware, May 3d, 1865. 
"My dear Mother: 

"My last to you was dated 23d of April, 
being a response to brother's of the i6th inst. 
Knowing a kind mother's anxiety for her 
children, I have concluded not to wait longer 
for intelligence from home. 

"Many startling and sad events have hap- 
pened since I last wrote, enough to chill one's 
heart. Our feelings can only be imagined 
by those who have had the like experience, or, 
if they could escape without sad and sore 
hearts, they would n'jt be human beings. The 



Kclioii Franklin Peddicord 157 

bravest and firmest spirits are depressed with 
the mournful facts that have stared us in the 
face, facts which, at first, could hardly be 
realized. But the crisis is over, the last ves- 
tige of hope has disappeared and passed Into 
oblivion, and we think of it as a word of no 
meaning. The inconstant world is a cheat, 
life is a shame. 

"The struggle with self has been most try- 
ing; and self-respect has left me within the 
last few days ; nothing but the man remains, 
but a dejected form or counterfeit re- 
semblance of a once proud spirit. 

"In the privates' barracks there were over 
six thousand; In our quarters there are over 
two thousand officers ; all of the former con- 
sented, several days ago, to take the oath of 
allegiance when the roll was called and It was 
offered. Four or five hundred consented yes- 
terday, myself included, and about one hun- 
dred remain yet v/ho have not consented. 
The majority will yield, I think, in a few 
days. It could not be expected we would 
change so long as we had an army in the field ; 
but when the last army had surrendered we 
knew our last hope had expired. Still, to 
change so suddenly was 'marrying too soon 
after death.' 



158 Kelion Fraukliii Peddicord 

"We do not know how long we are to re- 
main here. I only know we are the most un- 
fortunate people the world ever knew. May 
God protect and preserve us ! 

"My love to all, and believe me, 
"Your affectionate son, 

"K. F. Peddicord." 

"Fort Delaware, May 7th, 1865. 
"Mrs. K. B. Peddicord. 

"My dear Mother: My heart was glad- 
dened this morning by the reception of your 
favor of the ist inst., and though but a few 
days have intervened since I last wrote you, 
being the same date of the one just received, 
I feel it my duty and your desire that I should 
write you again. Thus, my immediate re- 
sponse. 

"It is particularly gratifying to learn of 
the good health of the loved ones at home, 
where I hope to he at no distant day. But 
at the present writing I have not the re- 
motest idea when we will be permitted to 
leave. A very small number, by special re- 
quest of their friends, were furnished with 
transportation to their homes a few days 
since. I mentioned to you in my last, that 



Kelion Franklin IVddicord 159 

of over two thousand officers and five or six 
thousand privates held prisoners of war at 
this place, all but a very few had then con- 
sented to take the oath of allegiance to the 
United States, and that myself was one that 
weakened at the last call. 

"Who, but a captive, can imagine our 
agony and suffering, anxieties and fears, as 
day after day passed in monotonous gloom? 
— shut out from the world, and in utter Ig- 
norance of the fate of near relatives and my 
many dear old companions, scattered over 
the wide extent of the South ! With nothing 
but such desponding reflections to occupy my 
mind, time hung heavy on my hands, and 
rendered existence doubly intolerable almost. 

"But the great crisis is over, and the 
brightest faces and the gayest spirits have 
calmed themselves to be ever afterward 
mournfully sad. Alas, that so many proud 
spirits should be broken, but may He who 
has so far guarded and watched over the un- 
fortunates, still protect us ! 

"With kindest regards to all kind friends, 
and love to all, 

"I remain, my dear mother, 
"Still your affectionate boy, 

"K. F. Peddicord.'' 



i6o Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

"Merchants Hotel, Philadelphia, 

"June 14th, 1865. 
"Dear Mother: 

"I am free and on my way home. Have 
a sick friend in charge. Will leave here on 
the 19th or 20th. By that time he will be 
strong enough to travel. I can't leave an old 
and dear companion, mother, although I am 
longing to see you so much. Love to all. 
"I am, dear mother, 

" Your Frank.'' 



CHAPTER IV 

AFTER THE WAR 

After the war Mr. Peddicord worked on 
a farm until the spring of 1867, when he 
moved to Palmyra, Missouri, and on the 
22nd of May, 1867, resumed farming, which 
occupation he followed for twelve years. 

In the spring of 1880 he moved into Pal- 
myra, where he kept a hotel up to and part 
of 1883. After this he filled many positions, 
being secretaiy for a number of years of the 
Subordinate and the County Granges, direc- 
tor and treasurer of The Fair Association, 
director and secretary Board of Directors of 
Grange Store. He was second in command 
of Palmyra Grays, Missouri State Guard; 
councilman and city clerk of Palmyra, acting 
secretary Missouri State Sporting Club. He 
arranged and organized fancy drills, viz : 
"Broom Brigade," "Flag Brigade," "Little 
Mackerels Brigade," "Umbrella Brigade," 
etc. 

During the years 1885 and 1886 he filled 



1 62 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

a responsible position with Smith Bros., 
clothiers, in Palmyra. 

On July I, 1887, he went to Hannibal, 
Missouri, where he was engaged with Jas. 
M. Nickell, the postmaster, until November 
I, 1887. 

President Cleveland appointed Mr. Peddi- 
cord postmaster of Palmyra in May, 1888, 
and he took charge of the post-office July i, 
1888, after having been on duty in the office 
since April 27, assisting the acting postmas- 
ter, Geo. B. Thompson. 

He was corresponding secretary of the 
Democratic Club in 1892, and in 1893 was 
connected with the Empire Drill. 

He was bookkeeper and assistant to Mr. 
Samuel Logan, cashier in First National 
Bank, Palmyra, Missouri, during 1891 and 
1892 and up to Febraary i, 1893. Secretary 
and vice-president First Congressional Dis- 
trict for the Missouri Confederate Home at 
Higginsville, Missouri, 1890 to 1896. In 
April, 1895, he was appointed aide-de-camp 
to Maj.-Gen. J. O. Shelby, commanding Mis- 
souri United Confederate Veterans, to rank 
as lieutenant-colonel. He attended the Con- 
federate Reunion, Richmond, Virginia, June 
30, July I and 2, 1896, on Maj.-Gen. Shelby's 

/ 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 163 

Staff; also Missouri State Reunion at Liberty, 
Missouri, August 26 and 27, 1896. He at- 
tended nearly all the reunions of United Con- 
federate Veterans, the last one being that of 
June, 1905. 

It is said "variety is the spice of life." 
Here in this busy life we find spice for a fact, 
mountains high. Not many have enjoyed this 
luxury so abundantly. First, the smiling 
school boy; second, the young tobacconist; 
third, the young farmer; fourth, the civil en- 
gineer; fifth, the soldier and farmer; sixth, 
the landlord; seventh, the postmaster. 
Adding the varieties and changes of each we 
find him successful in the many undertakings 
of life — but in the "pursuit of wealth," a per- 
fect failure. 

Like his father, he attained a high aver- 
age in all he undertook, firm in the belief that 
what man had done, man could do. 

He was skilled as a horseman, and an edu- 
cator and master of all animals through 
kindness and patience. As a marksman, an 
oarsman, and an all-around advocate of true 
manly sports he represented the ideal type. 

Kelion Franklin Peddicord died August 
28, 1905. 



CHAPTER V 

SOME LETTERS RECEIVED BY MRS. LOGAN 

The following letters written to Mrs. 
India P. Logan after Captain Peddicord's 
death have been selected from among a num- 
ber received, and are given here to show the 
regard felt for him by his friends. Few men, 
either in public or private life, have left a 
more honored name than Captain Peddicord, 
and it gives sincere pleasure to his relatives 
to quote such utterances. 

Mr. F. W. Smith, of Palmyra, writes: 

"I hardly know how to begin to speak of 
the many good qualities of my friend Capt. 
K. F. Peddicord. He was so pre-eminent 
in all that goes to make a good man, that 
mere words or particular reference would fail 
to describe him and to enumerate all his good 
traits would require more time and space than 
is given me. 

"Perhaps the most prominent trait of his 
character was the inflexible fidelity to trust. 
For a period of nearly a quarter of a century 
I was intimately associated with him, and for 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 165 

nearly twenty years a daily companion. I 
was thus given numerous opportunities to 
observe his integrity. 

"I never knew him to prove unequal to any 
demand put upon him. He did not study to 
be true; it was just naturally his nature to 
carry out to the letter a faithful discharge of 
every duty. 

"Along with this peculiar feature of his 
character must be added a gentle and kind 
disposition. He loved the brute kind more 
than most people love their blood kin. 
Nothing, absolutely nothing, aroused his in- 
dignation so quickly as to see a dog or horse 
abused. I have seen him take a poor crippled 
dog in his arms and carry it to a place of 
safety and tenderly soothe it as a mother 
would a child. 

"Children were beloved most dearly, and 
though years separated from youth, he never 
failed to sympathize with all the misfortunes 
of the school children or to engage in their 
games and sports, and to so ingratiate himself 
with them as to cause them to accept him as 
one of their number. 

"His heart went out to the unfortimate 
man or boy, male or female, against whose 
good name some scandal attached. He never 



1 66 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

talked about people to their disparagement. 
Truly his motto was, 'If you cannot speak 
well of them, you can at least be silent'. 

"No man ever lived who had a higher re- 
gard or a greater respect for women than 
Captain Peddicord. He was a champion at 
all times and places. He crowned her with 
glory and honor; he defended those with 
whom perhaps he never spoke and praised 
those he never knew. 

"He was quiet in his taste, modest to a 
fault. He admired the beautiful both in 
nature and art. He was a student of nature, 
and learned in many of the mysteries of plant 
and flower; passionately fond of leaves, he 
gathered great handfuls, selecting and ar- 
ranging the most beautiful with care, to give 
them to some child. 

"He had explored the famous Mammoth 
Cave of Kentucky, and preserved many ex- 
amples of that wonderful product of Nature, 
and could speak with much interest of his 
experience in that and many other explora- 
tions. 

"Of his war record I will not write; but 
I know he loved his soldier friends, nor did 
he ever cease to hold in reverence his com- 
panions of the great war. 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 167 

"I write these imperfect expressions as a 
tribute of the love I had for him. I loved 
him, and no one could have had a better 
friend than he was, ever and always, to me 
and mine. 

"Frank W. Smith." 

The following is from a lifelong friend: 
"We called him Captain Peddicord; he 
called himself First Sergeant, Quirk's Scouts. 
Whatever his army rank, he was, among men, 
first of all the elegant gentleman. We did 
not meet until after the war had closed, our 
army service being in widely separate fields. 
On the Board of the Confederate Home, 
Higginsville, Missouri, we always found him 
efficient and true to the Confederate soldier, 
ready to aid the needy comrade in every way 
that he could. We became quite intimate in 
after years. He was courteous and com- 
panionable, an extensive reader, and versa- 
tile in conversation. 

"While he was respectful to all, he was 
especially popular with children and with the 
younger girls and boys. He had a poetic 
taste and Shakespeare seemed his favorite 
author. He often quoted from him. He 
was not aggressive, but attacks by others upon 



1 68 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

his settled convictions did not change them. 
His ideals were pure and good, and woman 
was enthroned in the midst of them. I never 
heard him make a disrespectful remark of 
a woman in all our intercourse. 

"But if he had one distinguishing trait 
above the others, it was accuracy. 

"Things must be correct, no matter what 
the tune or what the work. And this was 
tiaie of what many would call little things. 
That he was a brave, heroic soldier goes with- 
out saying, what he did, and the testimony 
of comrades is all sufficient. In private life 
he was kind, considerate, gentle as a woman. 
His declining years he lived in a quiet, unob- 
trusive way, true to his friends, true to him- 
self. 

"And now he is under the willows sleeping 
the last long sleep of the valiant soldier. I 
reverently lay a flower upon his grave, and 
gladly pay this tribute to his memory. 

"T. K. Gash." 

From a friend of many years : 

"Having had an intimate association with 
Captain Peddicord for more than a quarter 
of a century, I feel I am in a position to offer 
the following tribute to his memory: 



R D 1 0. 8 



Kelion Franklin Peddicord 169 

"The most striking characteristic that ap- 
pealed to me was his kindly nature, his even 
temperament, his loyalty. I have never 
known a person who was such a model of 
patience; and having grown from a boy to 
manhood, almost, under his supervision, I am 
frank to say that his life was an inspiration 
to me, and from it I gathered much that will 
remain with me until time shall be no more. 

"He was in truth a historian. I have sat 
for hours and listened to events that occurred 
within his knowledge, and wonderful had 
been his opportunities. He was a civil en- 
gineer, and assisted in the building of the 
Louisville and Nashville Bridge, the one that 
afterward as a Southern soldier he had helped 
destroy. And what a soldier he was ! I 
said to him once, after listening to memories 
of the past, 'Captain, did you ever kill a man 
in battle?' His answer was, 'Boy, I have 
shot at many a man'. 

"What a master he was ! He was the best 
horseman I ever saw; his control over an 
animal was remarkable; his voice seemed to 
do for him what hands often failed to do for 
others. 

"I was with him much in his last days, 



170 Kelion Franklin Peddicord 

when he calmly, patiently waited day after 
day to be called home. Gently, sweetly, his 
lamp went out. 

"Howard P. Smith, 

"Palmyra, Mo." 



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